


First Impressions

by alayneni



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: AU, F/M, olicity - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-12
Updated: 2016-03-18
Packaged: 2018-05-20 00:18:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 28,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5985957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alayneni/pseuds/alayneni
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Felicity discovers how first impressions can be very wrong when the men she thinks of as The Jerk, The Dick, The Stalker, and The Prince end up being different than who she thought they were.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The First Impression

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Arrow

Felicity Smoak was a blonde haired, blue eyes genius that loved computers. Her mother was a cocktail waitress in Las Vegas who worked long shifts to raise her. Her father left them when she was young. She could barely remember him. When she was a teenager she would do her homework in the employee lounge where her mom worked. When she had no homework she would sometimes sit in the security room and watch the monitors with the guards. They had a little game they used to play where they would bet what visitors to the casino would do. They would pick out the hard core gamblers, the slot machine enthusiasts and the people that were clearly there just for the food and drinks. It had been a great way to earn extra cash.

Felicity graduated high school early, choosing to go to the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology or as it is affectionately known, MIT. She loved every moment that she was there. Her classes were challenging and she found herself growing in a way she never thought possible. She graduated with her masters in Cyber Security. She knew she would not go back to Las Vegas. Both her and her mother knew that when she left to go to MIT she wasn't coming back unless it was to visit.

After working for a few companies, Felicity Smoak was approached by Walter Steele, a Vice-President at Queen Consolidated to head up their fledgling Applied Sciences division. The previous heads had failed miserably and since that division was Mr. Steele's personal pet project, he went out of his way to head-hunt her for the position. She had been working at Star Labs under the famous Dr. Harrison Wells handling all of their cyber security and programming projects. It was her work there that made her eligible to become the Head of the Applied Sciences division. The opportunity that Mr. Steele was offering her was a once in a life time opportunity and Felicity quickly accepted it even though it required her to relocate to a new city.

* * *

It was a nice sunny day, the perfect day to start her new life in Star City. She arrived via plane early that morning from Las Vegas. She took two weeks off between jobs so that she could spend some time with her mother. On her way to the apartment that Mr. Steele had arranged for her, she saw a small coffee shop and she asked the cab to stop for a few minutes so that she could sample the brew. It was very important to know where the good coffee shops were. She was pleased with the blend and decided that it was good enough to be her morning coffee place. A quick check of Google maps indicated that it was on her preferred route to work.

The neighbourhood was quiet and clean. There were several apartment complexes around and a park nearby. The moving van with her things would be arriving later that day. All she had as she walked up to the door was a little rollie and her cup of coffee in her hand.

The door opened and she was met with the sight of the most gorgeous man she had ever seen. He was six foot two, with sandy blonde hair, deep blue eyes and a dusting of stubble on his strong jaw. He was dressed in a simple black jeans, grey Henley t-shirt and a leather jacket. From the way the shirt stretched over his chest, she knew he was well built. She thought he looked kind of familiar and was wracking her brain for where she had seen his face before.

"Move," the man said roughly.

Before she could even register what was going on, he was shoving her aside, her coffee spilling all over her. He didn't even stop to apologise, what a jerk!

**S-2**

After the initial anger from the incident faded, Felicity realised she needed to cover up her stained clothes before meeting with the building manager. She didn't want him to think she was some crazy coffee lady moving in. Fortunately the coat she had worn on the plane was thrown over the handle of her rollie and it didn't get stained. She quickly covered up.

The building manager was a man named Floyd Lawton who had served in the military. He was a bit passive aggressive, giving her a long list of things she wasn't allowed to do in the apartment building. He gave her the keys to the apartment and did a walkthrough with her noting that everything was in pristine condition and he expected it to stay that way. She was on the second floor with a view of the park. The apartment was a lot bigger than the previous ones she had in Boston, New York and Central City. The kitchen had plenty of space though she couldn't cook to save her life. There were two bedrooms so her friends would have a room to stay in when they visited her.

After a quick shower and a change of clothes she headed downstairs to greet the movers. The foyer was large. The mailboxes for the apartments were on one side and the manager's office on the other. There was a security guard behind a desk but his face was glued to the monitors. There were also couches set up so that you could sit and relax. She introduced herself to the security guard. She discovered his name was Lucas Hilton. He was a former police officer who used to be the partner of Captain Quentin Lance. One of his daughters Sara Lance lived with her partner, Nyssa Raatko, on the third floor. In the hour, she spent talking with Lucas, she hadn't seen anyone come and go.

The truck soon pulled up and she gave the movers instructions on where to put her stuff. There was one box she was anxious to get her hands on, the one that housed her pet projects. She had specially labelled it and she wanted to move that box herself. She found the box and picked it up. When she reached the door, it was closed. She cursed her luck. Fortunately a guy in a red hoodie was coming up the stairs behind her.

"Can you open the door for me please?" she asked him. He was shorter than the jerk she first met but was just as good looking and chiselled. Did models live in her apartment building?

"Hey Blondie," the guy said looking at her.

"Can you get the door?" she asked again.

The boy smirked, "ladies first," he said not moving a hand to help her.

She glared at the guy, what a dick. Did all the men in this apartment building have personalities of trash cans! Just as she was about to adjust her box to try and balance it between her hip and one hand, one of the movers opened the door. The red hooded guy rushed forward and left her behind.

"Gee thanks," she called out sarcastically to him.

He turned around and winked at her, "no problem Blondie, anytime."

"That guy is a real dick," she said to Lucas who just shrugged it off.

She spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking her boxes and setting up her apartment. She had work the next day and she wanted to finish her unpacking because she suspected that she would not be in the mood for unpacking the following night.

**S-3**

For her first day of work, she made sure to arrive at Queen Consolidated early. She was greeted by the HR Manager and Mr. Steele, who insisted she call him Walter. She went through the standard orientation for new staff members after which Walter started introducing her to her staff. They had the entire 20th floor to themselves. The department was first started two years ago. They had tried to launch several projects but all had failed. They had been through quite a few staff members from what she could gather. No one she talked to had been there more than six months.

This was her first job where she had an Executive Assistant. His name was Jerry and he seemed very keen to work. He brought her up to speed on all of the commitments that the department had made. There were several projects on track, the most important of which was the collaboration with Palmer Technologies. She actually had a meeting that afternoon with Dr. Ray Palmer. She had never personally met the man but she knew Dr. Wells had had many dealings with him.

Just before lunch, Walter called her up to the 25th floor to meet the Queens. She was introduced to Robert Queen, the CEO and Isabel Rochev-Queen, Vice-President of Acquisitions, and his current wife. She remembered reading about the divorce from his first wife, Moira. Moira had cheated on him with Malcolm Merlyn and the result had been a baby girl. No one knew about it until a riding accident revealed her true paternity. The ensuing battle had been nasty. Isabel, who had been his mistress at the time, wasted no time in converting her position to second wife. She supposed the woman was suited to be head of acquisitions.

The final Queen she met was his eldest son from his first marriage, the infamous Oliver Queen. She knew she recognised The Jerk from somewhere. He was Oliver Queen. He was her boss's son and her co-worker.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Jerk," Felicity said. When everyone looked at her strangely and Isabel burst out laughing she realised she said Mr. Jerk instead of Mr. Queen. Felicity quickly tried to apologise.

"You would not be the first woman he slept with to call him a jerk," Isabel commented.

"Oh no," Felicity stated her hands trying to deny that she slept with him. She needed to correct that assumption right away. "He and I, never happened. Nope, definitely not," she reiterated shaking her head emphatically.

Isabel turned to Oliver, "Is there anyone left in Starling City that you haven't slept with?" she asked with disdain.

Oliver ignored Isabel and looked at Felicity curiously, "Have we met before?"

"Yesterday, you rudely shoved me out of your way causing me to spill coffee all over myself. You didn't even stop to apologise," she explained angrily.

"Ah," he said as he seemed to remember, "the gaping fangirl,"

"What?" Felicity asked her jaw hanging open, "I am not a gaping fangirl. For your information, I didn't even know it was you until just now,"

Oliver scoffed. He was the most recognised man in Star City. He also knew, he had fans in Central City and according to Felicity's resume; she was last based in Central City.

Walter graciously chose that moment to intervene explaining that he needed to introduce Felicity to other heads of departments.

**S-4**

At lunch time, she left to visit the company that she would be leasing her car from. She had chosen a red mini cooper. The car was small, making it easy to zip around but best of all easy to park. Felicity was not the best parker. She had googled the directions to the local Big Belly Burger, her guilty pleasure. She figured she could treat herself on her first day of work. She joined the long line inside. While she was waiting she observed the decor. It was similar to the one in Central City but slightly bigger. From the length of the line, she was sure they were very popular here too.

Having taken very long to reach the front of the line, she took her order to go, a big belly buster and a chocolate milk shake. After a few minutes her order was ready. She picked up her order and headed to the door. As she pulled it open she was met with the sight of The Jerk and tall dark man next to him who she assumed was his driver or bodyguard. She glared at him. She shoved passed him and let go of the door, hoping it closed shut in his face. She was thankful he had no say over her employment because she could surely get fired for a move like that. From the gossip she had heard, Oliver was in line to take over the company but Isabel had been shutting down all of Oliver's ideas and suggestions. A lot of employees felt Isabel was looking for a way to force Oliver out of the company so that the business would go to her children.

**S-5**

After quickly eating her lunch and reviewing the paperwork for the project with Dr. Palmer, Jerry informed her that he was there for their meeting. A tall man, with a strong jaw and short black hair entered her office. She had seen his picture in many technical journals and magazines but he was even better looking in person.

"Ms. Smoak, it's a pleasure to finally meet you. I'm surprised Dr. Wells let you leave Star Labs. I once made the mistake of mentioning to him that I was thinking of hiring you and he practically threatened my life if I were to take you away from Star Labs," he said holding out his hand to shake hers.

She shook his hand, "You wanted to offer me a job?"

"Yes, your work is well known. I'm surprised QC was able to get you," he told her.

"I suppose Walter didn't both to talk to Dr. Wells first," Felicity responded.

She pointed to a small conference room she had adjoining her office, "shall we?" she asked.

"Straight to business Ms. Smoak, I like that," he said.

"We have a lot to discuss Dr. Palmer,"

"Please call me Ray,"

The meeting went well. Felicity made a few suggestions to improve the prototype they were working on. Ray was ecstatic and promised to include them immediately. When Ray left just after five, Felicity decided to leave as well because she needed to get food in her apartment. She quickly reviewed her schedule with Jerry for the next day adding in an extra meeting with her staff to discuss a few project proposals that had been pitched.

**S-6**

Felicity stopped at a grocery store to stock up on wine, ice cream and microwave dinners. During that time she had received five messages from Ray. She answered them right away since she still thought it was conceivable for her to be in the office working.

When she reached her apartment building, her hands were filled with groceries bags and she was trying to figure out how to get the closed door open. This time a tall slim built man with slick black hair offered to open the door and help her with her groceries.

"Thanks," Felicity said truly grateful for the help.

"You're welcome. I'm Cooper, you must be the new tenant in 2B," he said.

"Yes, I'm Felicity. It's nice to meet you Cooper," she said

"Let me help you get these bags to your door," he said holding half of her load for her.

She smiled gratefully.

"The rumour around the building is that this is your first time in the city," Cooper said starting up a conversation with her.

"Yes. I moved here for a job at Queen Consolidated," she told him as they waited for the elevator.

"Ah, I should be your bitter rival then. I work at Merlyn Global. I manage their IT department,"

"You're in IT?" Felicity asked lighting up.

"Yes,"

"Me too!" Felicity said as the elevator pinged open. Cooper let her enter the elevator first.

"So you'll actually understand when I talk about the latest processors on the market," he commented.

That set off a debate between them about processing speeds and operating systems all the way to her apartment door. He held all of her bags for her while she rifled through her purse for her keys. As usual, when you're looking for something in your purse, it's the last object that you lay your hands on. Cooper waited patiently. When she finally opened the door, he was not presumptuous and let himself in. He offered her a few bags and waited by the door while she put those inside to come back for the rest. He said a simple good night and promised her that they would continue their debate at another time.

Felicity was happy that she had at least found one neighbour that she liked. He was such a prince charming. She looked forward to her next encounter with him. After putting away her groceries and warming up a microwave dinner, she settled in to a long skype conversation with her friends in Central City about her first day at work.

**S-7**

She popped into the building manager's office the next morning to check to see that all the bills were successfully transferred to her name. She casually asked him about the guy in the red hoodie. He explained that the boy's name was Roy Harper. He was a petty thief from the Glades and the boyfriend of Thea Queen- Merlyn who lived on the top floor of the building. He advised her to hold on to her purse tightly when she saw Roy coming. Lawton's information also explained why Oliver Queen was there. His half sister lived there. Her phone pinged with another message from Ray. He said he knew she was still home but he had sent her an updated design for the prototype that included all of her suggestions. She was surprised that he had worked that fast but then she wondered how he knew she was still home.

She found out later that day that Ray had been pinging her phone to know where she was. That set off alarm bells in her head. She had had that Lacrosse player at MIT who sat outside her apartment watching her. Was Ray Palmer a stalker? She had never heard any such rumours about him. Surely, someone would have said something? But then again, he is a billionaire. He has more than enough money and technical expertise to cover his tracks. Maybe she should make a call to Dr. Wells? He had always been great at offering her advice. She decided that Dr. Wells would be a last resort. She would give Dr. Palmer the benefit of the doubt.

**S-8**

That was how Felicity met Oliver Queen, Roy Harper, Ray Palmer and Cooper Seldon otherwise affectionately known as The Jerk, The Dick, The Stalker and The Prince.


	2. The Stalker

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Arrow.

One week had passed. Felicity found herself settling into a routine. She was at work by 8:00am everyday and left most days by 6:00pm. After work she would stop for some take out, either Chinese or Big Belly Burger before retiring for the night in front of the TV or chatting away on skype to her friends in Central City. She hadn't seen The Jerk in her building again which she was grateful for. She had to sit through many meetings at QC with him already. The Dick was always around though. She even thought she saw him jumping a wall on the way home one day.

She had been hoping to run into Cooper again but she hadn't. She didn't know which apartment he lived in either and she was reluctant to ask anyone. She didn't want people thinking she had just moved in and was looking for a booty call already.

She had not met anyone else in the apartment building. She wondered if maybe her neighbours kept odd hours because she thought hers were fairly normal.

**S-2**

Felicity awoke to the sound of a leak in her apartment. It was still dark forcing her to flip on her bedside light. She followed the sound to the bathroom where she found water on the floor. When she turned on the light over the sink, she discovered the water was dripping from the ceiling. The apartment above her must be the source of the leak. After making sure that all of her items were safe from possible water damage, she pulled a coat over her pajamas and went upstairs, knocking on the door directly above hers. Before the door opened she heard a female voice on the other side yelling.

"If it's the both of you again, I swear I'm going to kill you Ollie and Tommy," the person that opened the door said. The person was a blond woman in sweat pants and a tank top.

"Uh hi," Felicity said sheepishly.

The woman frowned, "Who are you?"

"Felicity Smoak I'm..."

"the new girl in 2B. Yeah, heard all about you already. You tried to slam a door in Ollie's face. Though in all honesty he probably deserved it," she said.

"You know about that?" Felicity asked horrified.

"The whole building knows about it. Digg told Thea, who told everyone else," the blonde said.

"Who's Digg?" Felicity asked.

"Ollie's bodyguard/driver. You know the tall black guy with arms the size of dumbbells," the woman said

"Oh him," Felicity said as she remembered the man she occasionally saw The Jerk with.

"Did you want something?" the woman asked.

"Oh right. I think you have a leak," Felicity said.

"A leak," the woman looked confused.

"Yeah, in the bathroom. It's coming straight through to me below,"

"Nyssa," she shouted down to the bedroom, "Do we have a leak in the bathroom?"

While they waited for the response the girl introduced herself, "I'm Sara Lance by the way. My girlfriend is Nyssa Raatko."

"Nice to meet you," Felicity said shaking Sara's hand.

An exotic woman in a lace negligee appeared, "there appears to be water on the floor beloved,"

"Shit! Lawton's going to throw a hissy fit. We just fixed that hole in the wall we caused,"

"You caused a hole in the wall," Felicity made the mistake of asking.

Nyssa smirked "Sara can be very passionate in our love making,"

Felicity was sure her eyes must have been the size of saucers. That was really something she did not need to hear so early in the morning.

"Should we at least find a shut off valve while you call him," Felicity suggested. The water could be damaging her apartment as well.

"No," they both said simultaneously.

"It's best to let Lawton do his job," Sara said. "You can come in while we wait,"

Five minutes later, a very grumpy Lawton appeared at the door with a pile of tools.

"Don't tell me you two were sparring in the bathroom?" he said sardonically.

"We have no idea how that happened," Nyssa said.

He glanced over at Felicity, "Roped the new girl into your little lesbian love nest?"

"Don't mind him Felicity. He's still pissed we told him he couldn't join us," Sara said throwing a filthy look at Lawton.

"Can you just turn off the water quickly its coming through to my apartment below," Felicity asked him.

Lawton dropped a few curse words before rushing into the bathroom. He soon emerged to declare: "Leak is in the wall. Got to turn off the water to the whole building and call a plumber. The Princess on the top floor ain't going to like that."

"After all that talk you gave us about plumbing you finally admit you ain't a plumber," Sara teased him.

"You both know I was talking about a different type of plumbing," he replied cockily purposely adjusting himself in his jeans.

"I can't have a bath before work," Felicity groaned.

"You work at QC don't you? What are you worried about?" Sara asked her.

"That I might smell up my entire floor and lose the respect of my department?" Felicity answered quickly. "This is a disaster," she further added burying her head in her hands.

"You're cute," Sara said, "Just use the shower in the gym."

"There is a gym in QC?" Felicity asked peeking out from behind her hands.

"On the 12th floor,"

"Oh,"

"Yeah you could go... say now and have a bath that way you'll be finished before anyone sees you. You probably also have time to do a quick workout."

"Oh no, me and workouts don't mix. I think I'm actually allergic," Felicity said shaking her head. The last time she tried to lift a weight she dropped it on her foot. Then there was that time she fell off the elliptical machine.

"You probably just need some guidance. Nyssa and I both teach classes there. We warm up with some yoga exercises in the morning before the first class. You can join us. It's not like we're going to get much sleep if we go back to bed now."

"I suppose you're right about the sleep part but I don't want to bother you," Felicity said.

"No bother, we've been meaning to get there a little bit earlier than usual to review the equipment. We have to submit a budget for next year and we need to figure out what needs replacing. Lawton has keys to every apartment. He'll handle the plumbers."

"Ok," Felicity agreed.

**S-3**

Felicity entered the gym to sounds of metal clashing on metal. She figured someone was already there. Sara seemed to be staring at her gauging her reaction. She hoped Nyssa wasn't mad. She was sure the woman could break her in half with one hand. As she moved further into the gym she discovered the source of the sound. A shirtless Oliver Queen was on some sort of metal contraption. Sweat was glistening off his bare chest. Felicity's heart started beating faster and she hadn't even started warming up yet.

"Hey Ollie," Sara yelled drawing attention to them, "wanna do some yoga with us?"

The Jerk looked at her but his gaze went passed Sara and locked on to her. Felicity looked away to Nyssa striking up a conversation about the yoga mats with her. She tried to ignore the conversation between Sara and Oliver but she heard every word of it. He was curious why they were there with her.

Five minutes later they started the yoga routine minus The Jerk. He preferred to exercise by himself on the weight machines. Felicity could swear she felt his eyes on her particularly when she bent over. Her traitorous eyes would sometime drift over to him and watch the way his muscles contracted as he lifted a weight. She found his biceps very appealing. When they reached the poses, he decided to join them. The three of them started up a competition about who could hold the poses longer and Felicity chose that opportunity to sneak away to the showers. She must have spent quite a while day dreaming in the shower because when she returned The Jerk had already showered and changed. He was in a crisp light grey suit with a blue tie that brought out his eyes.

"Someone had a nice long shower," Sara commented

"The hot water was good," Felicity said.

"I'm sure it was," Sara responded with a smirk on her face.

Felicity ignored her. It was time to get to work. The gym was beginning to fill up with other QC employees. She headed for the door, realising the Jerk was right behind her she held the door open until the last possible moment letting it slam into The Jerk. When he groaned she couldn't help but turn around and stick her tongue out like a little child before running away to her office. She had no clue why she did that but it felt good.

**S-4**

Two hours later, Felicity was in a project meeting with The Stalker, The Jerk and other members of the team. So far The Jerk had not withdrawn his attention from his cell phone for more than 3 seconds. Near the end of the meeting The Jerk finally contributed something to the meeting.

"Mr. Palmer," he started only for Felicity to cut him off.

"Dr." she corrected him. The Stalker had 3 PhDs that he had earned. The Jerk had a degree she was fairly sure his father paid for.

The Jerk's eyes cut to her before he continued on with what he was saying, "Dr. Palmer, can you guarantee we will be ready to launch the new product in six months?"

"If I had the TARDIS I could probably zip forward and give you the exact date," Ray joked.

Felicity snorted, whereas The Jerk stared blankly at Palmer.

The Stalker beamed at Felicity, "finally someone who understands my Dr. Who jokes. Anna is always telling me that I'm the only person that gets it,"

"Palmer," The Jerk said irritated, "back to the project please. We don't need another long monologue about you and your wife,"

That comment drew Felicity's attention. The Stalker had a wife. How had she not known this? He didn't wear a wedding ring. Did he take the ring off to stalk other women? Were they like those serial killer couples?

"Of course, I'm 95% sure it can be delivered in 6 months,"

"QC is investing a log of money in this," The Jerk reminded him.

"So is Palmer Tech. You won't be disappointed. On to other matters, Anna has asked me to invite the team and your families to dinner tonight. I've booked Table Salt for the night. I expect to see each and every one of you there tonight. We have an open bar," The Stalker said looking directly at Felicity.

Felicity shifted uncomfortably. She totally would have skipped the dinner but it would have looked very bad if the Head of Applied Sciences didn't attend an event that a very important partner had invited them too. The Jerk accepted the invitation on everyone's behalf. The look he sent his employees strongly implied that he expected every single one of them to be there. At least it was an open bar. She could drown herself in wine.

**S-5**

That afternoon when Felicity entered the apartment building she met The Dick by the mailboxes.

"Hey Blondie, hope you don't need help opening the door your mailbox," he commented rudely.

Felicity glared at him, "I hope that hoodie falls in front of your face and you walk into a door or something,"

"Fat chance Blondie," he said retrieving his girlfriend's mail.

When he was gone, Felicity walked over to Lucas, "how can someone like Thea Queen-Merlyn date a boy like that,"

"He grows on you," Lucas said.

"Like a bad song?" Felicity asked.

Lucas laughed.

**S-6**

Felicity picked out a simple red dress that was appropriate for a work function. It was knee length with a small slit on one side. Her shoulders were exposed but not her cleavage, not that she had that much to display anyway. She kept her make-up light and flat ironed her hair to fall straight. In the elevator she ran into The Dick again with who she assumed was his girlfriend.

"Blondie, looking hot," he said looking her up and down. Felicity knew he was doing it just to annoy her.

His girlfriend slapped him on his arm, "stop complimenting other women. I'm the one you're supposed to be looking at,"

Felicity laughed. At least someone put The Dick in his place. The young girl looked at her curiously.

"You must be the new girl, Felicity, in apartment 2B right?"

"Yes," Felicity responded politely but she was kind of fed up of being called the new girl.

"I'm Thea!" she said excitedly.

"Hi Thea, I'm Felicity but you already knew that," Felicity said as the elevator doors opened to reveal the foyer.

"I'm going to be psychic here and say you're going to a work function tonight at Table Salt," Thea said as the exited the elevator into the foyer.

"Thea you're not a psychic. Your brother told you ten minutes ago that was where he was going," The Dick said.

"Hush!" she said slapping him on the arm again.

The Dick winced. Felicity was really starting to like Thea.

**S-7**

After googling the directions to Table Salt and investigating parking options on their website, she didn't like handing a valet the key to her car, Felicity arrived just in time to find The Jerk in all his stunning glory, handing the keys to a green Lamborghini to the valet. The Jerk could really rock a suit. It was a pity he had the personality of a trash compactor. She ignored him and headed to the door that had been opened by an employee for her. As she tried to walk through the door a very muscular body knocked into her pushing her into the frame of the door. She glared at the broad back of The Jerk as he walked ahead of her.

"Jerk," she said angrily, loud enough for him to hear.

He turned around to look at her, "oh was that you Ms. Smoak. I thought you were another gaping fangirl!" he said winking at her. He walked off leaving her stunned.

Felicity had never wanted to shoot someone in her life but Oliver Queen was tempting her too.

**S-8**

Felicity wasn't sure if she should have been relieved that she didn't have to sit at a table with The Jerk or worried that she was seated with The Stalker and his wife. The Stalker hadn't made any open moves at her but that could be because his wife was seated at the table. The Stalker dominated the conversation with talk about the project. Eventually his wife Anna, bless her soul, told him to shut up. There were a bunch of relieved sighs around the table.

Anna apologised for her husband explaining that Ray was devoted to his work and sometimes didn't understand boundaries. When he had an idea he couldn't wait to hear what others thought. Anna started recounting stories of all the times he had overstepped his boundaries. She was particularly fond of the one where she called the police for him at 1:00am in the morning thinking he was a stalker. Felicity had choked on her wine at that point.

Felicity noticed that besides her wedding bands on her left hand, Anna also wore a wedding band on her right hand. When she asked about it, Anna launched into a detailed recount of how Ray lost his first four wedding bands in his research lab, one of them completely obliterated by an experiment Ray had been working on. Anna had now decided to hold on to the ring for her husband. This was his fifth ring in a little over one year of marriage. Anna was a remarkable woman. Felicity would have probably killed her husband after the second ring disappeared.

Time flew as Felicity found herself actually enjoying her dinner with the couple. Anna put all her concerns about Palmer to rest. She advised Felicity to give him restrictions or she could be woken up at 3am to discuss co-generation. Eventually the conversation turned to Dr. Who and Felicity found herself trying to explain the complicated history between The Doctor and River Song to Anna.

Occasionally Felicity heard laughter from the Jerk's table. When she looked over she could see he was just humouring the people at his table with a fake smile. Whatever was being said he didn't find funny at all. He never failed to catch her looking at his table. She would look away when caught but the heat on her face told her she was blushing. Just before desert was served, he made his way over to their table to thank Palmer for a lovely night. He then excused himself on the pretence that he had some other business to attend to for the night.

**S-9**

She arrived at the apartment complex a little after 10pm. Ray sending a message to make sure she got home safely. After her night she realised he wasn't a creepy stalker, he was just a bit too enthusiastic about his projects. She walked into the foyer and found Cooper checking his mailbox.

"Wow, you look stunning," he said when he caught sight of her.

She smiled, "thank you very much."

"Hot date?" he teased.

She laughed, "No nothing like that. It was just a work function. There is no boyfriend if you were wondering."

"You just moved here and already you are rolling with the big boys. I'm impressed!" Cooper said with an expression that was a mix of awe and intrigue.

"It was nothing like that," Felicity replied blushing.

"Oi lovebirds, take it inside," The Dick said coming out of the elevator by himself.

"Harper," Cooper said in a neutral tone.

"Seldon," The Dick responded in a similar tone before looking at Felicity, "you can do so much better than him."

Cooper was stepping forward to tackle The Dick but Felicity stopped him. The Dick didn't even look threatened by Cooper. He just walked off as if he owned the place.

"That boy thinks just because his girlfriend is Thea Queen-Merlyn, he can do whatever he wants," Cooper said shaking his head. "Let me walk you to your door," he offered again.

"Sure thanks," Felicity said entering the elevator with him. Her stomach was beginning to get butterflies in it. Cooper was such a prince charming.

"Maybe we can get some coffee sometime. There is a great place about a block from here," Cooper said.

"That sounds great. I know the place you're referring to. I get coffee there every morning on my way to work," Felicity replied.

"Saturday at 10am?" Cooper asked hopefully.

"Sure it's a date," Felicity said before back tracking, "I mean it's a meeting that is not necessarily a date,"

Cooper laughed, "It's most definitely a date,"

Felicity smiled wide. The elevator doors opened and he escorted her to her door. He kissed her hand good night before departing. Felicity was suddenly very excited for Saturday. The first thing she did when she entered her apartment was call the girls in Central City. She needed advice for her coffee date.

**S-10**

When Felicity started at Queen Consolidated she did a thorough review of the work her predecessors had completed. There were certain decisions that made no sense to her. She thought about calling them to inquire why they made those decisions but Jerry informed her that the terms on which they departed weren't very nice. She decided to do something that was morally grey but as the current head of the Applied Sciences division she would be allowed to do. She went through her predecessors e-mails. From what she could gather, Isabel had bullied them into making the wrong decisions. Felicity didn't understand why she would risk undermining the company like that by setting the division back years.

Personally, Felicity found Isabel the most frightening woman she had ever met. She disliked the women immensely and it was the only time she ever felt sympathetic towards the Jerk. Having a step-mom like that must have made his life hell. Isabel was also exceedingly paranoid when it came to women working with Robert. She was well aware that before here there were many other mistresses. As a result, Isabel firmly intended on being the last woman Robert was ever with. Robert's Executive Assistant was a man. The rumour mill suggested that he was a former strip that had married one of Isabel's powerful friends. Isabel hired the man so that he had a reputable job. It was a win-win situation for her. She helped her friend out while at the same time ensuring that Robert wasn't screwing his EA.

At the most recent meeting of the executive management, Isabel proposed acquiring UNIDAC Industries. Oliver opposed right away. Walter supported him. Felicity could see that Robert did not want to side against his wife so he asked for her opinion since Isabel's grounds for acquiring UNIDAC was that they were doing research that would be instrumental in getting the Applied Sciences Division off the ground. Felicity's internal alarm went off. She had never heard much about the company before. She told the CEO she couldn't comment properly on the recommendation until she conducted some research. Robert gave her one week to conduct her research and submit a recommendation.

**S-11**

Isabel followed up with Felicity during the week, strongly implying that she should side with her but Felicity didn't like the data she was finding. When Felicity arrived at the follow up meeting she was surprised to find The Jerk there. He was usually at least ten minutes late. He had taken the seat right next to hers. Normally he had to take which ever seat was open.

"You're early," she commented sitting down next to him. She was not letting him chase her from her seat. This was not high school.

"Ms. Smoak," he nodded.

The room soon filled up and they started on their agenda items, the last item was UNIDAC. Incidentally, The Jerk's hulking frame was blocking Isabel from view since she was seated further down the table on the same side as them.

"Ms. Smoak, do you have your recommendation?" Robert Queen asked her when they reached the last item.

"Yes. I recommend that QC should not acquire UNIDAC," Felicity said confidently.

"On what grounds!" Isabel demanded leaning forward trying to glare around The Jerk at her.

"The type of research UNIDAC conducts is not what the Applied Sciences Division is interested in. We are moving in a different direction," Felicity explained.

"UNIDAC has many lucrative government contracts. We could stand to gain billions," Isabel said pushing for the approval to acquire the company.

"We could also stand to lose billions since the FBI is currently investigating the company for terrorist activities. We cannot have QC's name involved with that. It could ruin us," Felicity revealed. She was hoping she didn't' have to reveal the FBI investigation. She had acquired that particular bit of information via means that weren't exactly legal.

"I have not heard anything about that," Isabel replied. Felicity distinctly got the feeling that Isabel was lying to her.

"My research also revealed something of a similar nature," the Jerk piped up sliding a file down to his father. Felicity wondered where Oliver got his information. He turned to look at her and she could tell he was wondering the same thing about her.

Isabel's face turned red. Felicity was sure she wanted to kill the both of them.

"We cannot afford to risk the company for a few contracts Isabel," Robert said after reviewing the file his son had given him.

Isabel was not handling her loss very well, "then we need to get our Applied Sciences Division contributing to our profits a lot sooner," she challenged.

"We'll have something in six months," The Jerk replied.

"Make that three months Oliver or we'll have to cut our losses on that division. QC can no longer afford Walter's experiment," Isabel declared.

Felicity wondered who the CEO really was because Robert just nodded to agree with Isabel.

"We'll have something in three months," The Jerk said causing Felicity to sit up straighter in alarm.

Was he out of his freaking mind! The prototype with Palmer Technologies wouldn't be ready for six months. As soon as the meeting was finished Felicity cornered The Jerk in his office.

"What the hell was that?" Felicity asked angrily.

"Isabel outmaneuvering us," he replied leaning against the desk and crossing his hands in front of his chest. Felicity tried not to be distracted by how good he looked.

"Us? There is no us!" Felicity replied angrily her arms flailing all over the place. She always talked with her hands.

"The minute you were hired you were either on our side or hers. Today you proved you were on our side," he told her calmly.

Felicity looked accusingly at him, "you knew since last week about the investigation but you didn't share the information with me."

"I didn't know if I could trust you," he replied honestly.

"Walter hired me not Isabel," she pointed out.

"Walter also hired the last two but they both followed Isabel's orders. You're the first one with a backbone to stand up to her,"

"I don't want to get involved in some Shakespearean family drama," Felicity said.

"What," he asked confused.

Felicity was going to explain her comment but then thought better of it. "Look I was hired to do a job and I just want to do my job,"

"That is exactly why Walter hired you; to do your job. We want this Division off the ground. Isabel doesn't. Just focus on what you need to do and don't worry about the rest of it," Oliver told her.

"Kind of hard when you have Isabel glaring at you," Felicity replied.

"I'll keep her off your back," The Jerk said.

"What is her problem anyway? I mean I understand why she would hate you."

Oliver arched his eyebrow at the comment.

"Oh please, you **are** a jerk," she said, "But why try to sabotage a division that would be good for the company."

"It's not about the Division. It's about Walter. She's trying to kick him out. If she can prove that he no longer has what it takes to be a Vice-President of QC she can get him fired. The failure of the Applied Sciences Division would be ample proof,"

"Walter is the nicest person here. He really knows his work," Felicity said.

"He's also connected to my mother, a person, as you can imagine, Isabel detests,"

"How is Walter connected to your mother?

"They're together," he said with a slight grimace.

"Together as in together together?" Felicity inquired.

"Yes," he said uncomfortably.

"Oh," Felicity said, she could not imagine that at all, "this is worse than Hamlet,"

"If you want Walter to stay, we need to make sure we pull this off," he said to her.

**S-12**

Felicity scheduled an emergency meeting with Ray and dragged The Jerk with her to the meeting. It was his fault they were in this position now.

"Felicity, Oliver, I was not expecting to see you so soon," Ray said as they walked into his office.

"We kind of have a little problem," Felicity said.

"What kind of problem?" Ray asked hesitantly. He had seen that stern look on Oliver Queen's face before. It did not mean good news.

"We need to launch in three months," the Jerk said cutting straight to the point as always.

"Three months!" Ray repeated, "That's not possible."

"Why not? I thought the prototype was finished?" the Jerk asked.

"The design for the prototype was finished. We're actually working on building it now. I've been trying to connect the virtual TCP to the open source sensor,"

"Can I take a look at it?" Felicity asked.

"Sure," he replied leading them through a door to his private research lab. The Jerk looked around at all of the equipment while Felicity settled herself at the computer.

"I've been working on it for over two weeks," Ray explained as Felicity typed away. Her concentration solely focused on the chip.

"What would you say if I told you it's done?" she said looking away from the computer at them.

"No way," Ray said racing over to confirm that Felicity had in fact done it. "This is unbelievable."

The Jerk cleared his throat to get their attention, "We launch in three months. Felicity will handle the technical aspects and I'll handle the logistics for the launch."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To those of you wondering, Sara definitely knew that Oliver was going to be at the gym. Next chapter will be The Dick. See ya next week.


	3. The Dick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Arrow.

It was official there was not enough time in the day. Felicity officially had to split her time between QC and Palmer Technologies to ensure that they were able to launch on time. Felicity had taken a more hands on approach in the development of the prototype. At current pace they would be ready for the set launch date. The work on the prototype was already enough work for one person. When you added her QC work to that, there simply was not enough time to get everything done. She was working well past midnight every night.

Monday night or early Tuesday morning, Felicity decided to pull herself away from her office in QC. Her eyes were already drooping by the time she reached to the mini. On her usual way home, she was met with a roadblock. They were working on a busted water main and the police officer was redirecting traffic for a few blocks. She switched on the GPS and let it guide her home.

Suddenly her car started to sputter and shut down. She checked the gas, she had half a tank. She popped the hood of the car and got out. Maybe something had come loose. She used the flashlight on her phone to shine into the car. She didn't see anything.

"What have we here?" a gruff voice said moving out of the shadows.

It was the first time Felicity realised that she was on a deserted street in an area she didn't know. Maybe it had not been her best idea to get out of the car without her taser.

"Uh nothing," Felicity said closing the hood.

She noticed two other guys behind the car. She knew she was in trouble. All traces of sleep disappeared as her brain started running scenarios to get out of this mess. She eased around so the driver's side of the Mini but the men were closing in on her. She wasn't sure if she could make it to the door before them.

"Hey," a familiar voiced called out.

She saw The Dick in his red hoodie. He was walking towards her. He had probably just left the apartment building and was heading home.

"Everything ok here?" he asked.

"No, my car needs help," Felicity said pointing to it.

The Dick laughed. She was clearly in trouble but the first thing she mentioned was her car.

"Get lost boy," one of the men said.

"This is none of your business" the other one said. The men that were behind the car were now next to Felicity.

"She's a friend, so it is my business," the Dick said coming closer.

One guy pulled out a switch blade but The Dick still kept coming towards them.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you?" he said.

"Why wouldn't I kid?" he asked

"Cause that cop car the pulled up with its light off might arrest you," he replied.

"There is no cop car at this hour of the night out here kid," the man replied.

The Dick stopped three feet in front of the man with the switchblade, "give me the girl,"

"Tough luck kid," the man said swinging his knife towards The Dick.

Felicity isn't sure what happened next because she stamped her stiletto clad foot down on the guy on her left and kneed the one on the right. She wasn't going to wait for The Dick to either win or lose. Two policemen appeared out of nowhere. One headed to subdue the man The Dick was fighting and the other one cuffed the men that were next to her.

**S-2**

They were all taken to the police station. The Dick had apparently called Sara's father before he announced his presence to the group. Captain Lance had sent his nearest cruiser before he himself arrived and took both her and Roy to the police station to make statements. There was apparently a gang of men raping women in The Glades and they suspected these men were part of that gang. Captain Lance strongly encouraged her to make a statement so that they could hold the men for questioning long enough for the DNA testing to be done to confirm if they were the suspects in the other cases.

"Thank you for the help Roy," Felicity told him after they had given their statements.

"No problem. Men like that need to be put away," he said.

"Roy," a young brunette said running in through the door. She was followed by the Jerk and a man she recognised as Tommy Merlyn,

"Are you ok?" she asked him. "I heard there was a knife fight,"

"I'm fine. One of the guys had a switch blade but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle," he boasted.

"And you Felicity," Thea questioned looking intently at her. Felicity was surprised to be addressed, especially by her first name.

"I'm fine,"

"Good next time stay in the car and call a wrecking service," The Jerk said angrily.

Felicity wanted to respond but he was right.

"Tommy Merlyn," Tommy said introducing himself. He took her hand and kissed it. "I'm glad I finally get to meet you. I've heard a lot about you"

"You have?" Felicity asked confused. Who would be talking about her?

"Yes," Tommy said, "You're even move charming than I thought you were?"

"That's enough Tommy. Ms. Smoak had a long night. She probably wants to go home," The Jerk said.

"Yes I was just about to call a cab," Felicity revealed. The Captain had impounded her vehicle for her. She would call the leasing company to collect the vehicle from the police station.

Both Tommy and Thea made noises of protests. Soon she found herself being dragged by the younger girl, who was much stronger than she looked, to a black Bentley driven by a chauffeur. The Jerk probably pulled the poor man out of bed.

"It's my Bentley and my driver, I'm taking shot gun, you four get the back," Tommy said.

Ok she was wrong about whose car it was but did she really have to sit in the back with The Jerk and the boy she formerly referred to as The Dick. She tried to see if maybe she could get an end spot next to the door with maybe Thea on her other side but the men had other plans. Both girls were placed in the middle. She did get Thea on one side but she had The Jerk on the other. Couldn't Thea maybe sit on Roy's lap so that Felicity didn't have to be pressed up against the Jerk?

Tommy started talking, she wasn't sure about what. All she could concentrate on was the heat she felt radiating off The Jerk. Her mind instantly supplied an image of her cuddling up to him under the sheets. She was always cold at nights. He would be the perfect heater to have in her bed. When Tommy stopped talking and stared at her she realised she had said that out loud! Felicity buried her head in her hands bemoaning the fact that her brain to mouth filter failed yet again but then at 3am in the morning what did she expect.

Fortunately, they were already stopping in front of her complex. As soon as the Jerk stepped out, she said a quick thank you and high tailed it up to her apartment, taking the stairs instead of the elevators. As soon as she made it to her bed, she collapsed and let her dreams carry her far away from her present world.

**S-3**

The next morning, Felicity nearly threw her alarm clock against the wall. She had barely gotten any sleep but she had to get out of bed. She had plenty of work to do. After a quick shower, she pulled on some clothes and rushed out the door. She called a cab while she waited for the elevator. When she walked out of her building she was greeted with the sight of The Jerk leaning casually against the side of a silver BMW. The car was sleek and new but Felicity couldn't pull her eyes away from The Jerk.

He was a very fine physical specimen. The sleeves of his white shirt were rolled up on his forearms and he hadn't even buttoned the top buttons on his shirt yet. She could see a suit jacket and tie hanging up in the back seat of the car. He would probably finish getting dressed at the office. She envied the fact that he looked like he had a full night's sleep instead of the few hours she knew he must have had.

She was disturbed from her observations by a car horn. Her cab had arrived. Before she even reacted to the cab, The Jerk walked over, pulled a few bills out of his wallet and handed it to the driver. The driver looked delighted and drove off.

"That was my ride!" Felicity cried in disbelief as she watched the taillights of the yellow cab get further and further away.

"You were his best fare of the day," The Jerk said with that annoying smirk.

Felicity marched up to him, "how am I supposed to get to work," she asked angrily.

He was unperturbed by her anger, simply opening the passenger door for her and asking her to get in.

"I'm not getting in your car," she said stubbornly.

"It's not my car. It's yours. There was an oversight in your contract. You should have been provided with a car. HR will have the updated contract on your desk before lunch. Technically, I can't hand over the keys until then," he said.

"You're giving me a car?" she asked in disbelief.

"Technically it belongs to the company even though you drive it. I can't have one of my most valuable employees driving around in an unreliable rental," he told her with a wink.

"It was a leased car not a rental," she responded ignoring the way the wink sent a wave of butterflies through her stomach.

"What the difference?" he asked her. "It still wasn't your own,"

"This isn't my own either," she blurted out.

"Touché," he said, "Are you getting in or not?"

Felicity relented and slid into the car. The first thing she noticed was the new car smell. The second was how comfortable the leather interior was. She may or may not have let out a small moan as the heat from the seat relaxed her muscles. The Jerk, though she might have to start thinking of him as Oliver for his foresight, had turned on the seat warmer for her.

He slid into the driver's seat with ease. One hand landed on the steering wheel and the other let the hand brake down before moving to the gear shift.

"It's a manual," she said looking down at his right hand. His forearms were really defined.

He gave her a guilty smile. He obviously hadn't considered if she could drive a manual. "Is that a problem? I can get it changed today,"

"No, I know how to drive stick. When you're not stuck in traffic or on a hill it can be fun," she said. Her neighbour was ex-military and he forced her to learn to drive a manual car because he told her she would never know when the skill could come in handy.

"Fortunately for you, there aren't any steep hills here. I can't do much about the traffic though," he said as they pulled smoothly away from the pavement. The engine had been running and she hadn't even realised it.

"I'll survive," Felicity said relaxing further into her seat.

"The car has an emergency system so if it shuts off for any reason, is in an accident or doesn't start when the button is pressed, it will call for road side assistance and notify me via message of any problems,"

Felicity nodded watching the road intently. He didn't drive fast even though Felicity knew the car could easily exceed the speed limit. She asked him to pull over at the coffee shop so she could pick up a cup. She was definitely going to need it today. Realising it would be rude to buy herself a cup and not get him one as well she asked him what he would like. She shouldn't have been surprised when he said he took his coffee black.

She brought their coffee but with both hands occupied she couldn't start drinking hers right away. When she reached back to the car, Oliver reached across the car and opened her door for her. She handed him his and carefully got into the car. They were on their way quickly and Felicity decided to put the coffee in the cup holder in case she spilled it all over herself. She was already running a tally of embarrassing acts in front of Oliver. She didn't need to add anymore. She closed her eyes for a little bit and the next thing she knew, they were parked in the underground parking at Queen Consolidated.

"We're here?" Felicity asked tiredly.

"Yeap," Oliver said with a smile. "You got a little drool on the side," he said pointing to the corner of her mouth.

Felicity's hand flew up to her mouth where she found a trail of moisture running from the corner of her mouth down her chin. She should have just drunk the coffee. That would have been less embarrassing.

"We were almost to the office. How did all this happen so quickly?" she asked herself horrified.

"I kind of made the block a few times. You looked really tired," Oliver said to her sheepishly.

Felicity reached for her coffee immediately to take a sip and was met with cold coffee.

"How many blocks did you make exactly?" she asked.

He gave her a small smile, "enough." He opened the back door and retrieved his jacket and tie. He fixed himself properly, removed his coat hanger and empty coffee cup and then threw her the keys.

"HR says the contract is ready. You can get the keys now. Enjoy the rest of your day Ms. Smoak,"

Felicity stared dumbfounded at his retreating back. When she reached her office and looked at the time she realised he had driven her around for an hour!

**S-4**

Felicity had no idea what kind of hours Thea kept so she consulted Lucas. He told her the girl worked for her father at Merlyn Global and he was extremely strict with her punctuality. She left the building at about the same time everyday but her return hours varied wildly. He suggested that 7:30am would be a good time to catch her before she left for work. Felicity nervously knocked on the girl's door. She waited about twenty seconds before she heard someone calling out that she would be there in a second.

"Hi," Felicity said when Thea opened the door. The younger girl was dressed in a pencil knee length skirt and a flowery blouse. She was the epitome of elegance and Felicity was thankful she hadn't seemed to interrupt her morning routine.

The younger girl watched her curiously, "hello Felicity."

"I'm sorry I know it's early but I was wondering if I could get your advice on something and I didn't know what time would be a good time to catch you and I can't really camp out in front of your door to wait for you since I have work at QC and Palmer Technologies not that I would camp out in front of your door because that would be stalkerish and I'm not a stalker," Felicity said trying to explain her presence in front of the rich girl's door.

"Relax its ok. What exactly do you want advice on?" Thea asked shifting her weight from one foot to the other.

"I want to thank Roy properly for what he did but I don't know him very well so I don't know what he would appreciate," the blond IT expert explained.

Thea smiled widely, "Meet me here, 9:45am on Saturday and we'll go shopping together,"

"Ok," Felicity readily agreed.

She would have to rearrange all of the work she had planned for Saturday but it would be worth it. Roy had helped her out of a tough situation and she really wanted to thank him for it. It was very courageous of him to step in and try to keep her safe before the cops arrived.

**S-5**

This was her fourth lunch date with Cooper. Felicity had been scheduling them in places that were on the route between QC and Palmer Technologies. Today they were meeting at a little cafe that served gourmet sandwiches. She was dressed in a grey dress with yellow squares on the side. Cooper was already seated waiting for her. She knew she was fifteen minutes late.

"I'm so sorry Cooper. Work has been so hectic lately," she said kissing him on his cheek.

"I understand," he said. His eyes roamed over her dress. "You look exceptionally beautiful today,"

Felicity blushed. Cooper always said the sweetest things to her. "Thank you. You're not looking too bad yourself mister."

She sat down opposite him and immediately started scanning her menu. She had finished programming a particularly tricky piece of code at Palmer Tech that morning and she had an afternoon meeting with her staff to discuss other projects they were working on. She couldn't really afford to dilly dally.

"I was thinking perhaps instead of doing lunch, we could do dinner next," Cooper said hopefully.

They had been sort of seeing each other for a few weeks now. She knew the proposal for dinner was a step to move their budding relationship forward. She was positive that after the project launch she would have more time to dedicate to the relationship but she didn't want to put him off by shutting down his attempts to forge a deeper relationship. You're supposed to hold on to a good man when you find him. Not so many men would have been this patient with her.

"Dinner sounds good," Felicity said. "Where are you thinking?"

"Table Salt," he replied easily.

"Friday night?" Felicity asked.

"I was thinking Saturday night, I have a massive software update on the servers after work on Friday," he told her. Any major updates or server work was usually done after work hours when most staff wouldn't be using the system.

"That sounds great," Felicity said thinking she could pick up a new dress for her date at the mall with Thea on Saturday. Cooper said he needed to leave to start preparations for the update so he took his sandwich to go. Felicity ate her sandwich quickly, paid the bill and then headed to the office.

**S-6**

Saturday morning was turning out much different to how Felicity had planned. They had been at the mall four hours already and Felicity had yet to step foot in a men's store. In fact, they had been in the current store for the last two hours trying on dresses. Felicity had caved early and started trying on everything that Thea had pulled out for her. If it weren't for Thea's presence, she would have been kicked out of the store already. There were so many cute dresses. Of course she knew she could only afford to buy one, she didn't think it would be that big of a deal since Thea already had a pile of clothes she was going to buy.

Felicity had a hard time choosing which dress would be the lucky one to go home with her. She would wear the dress on the date with Cooper that night. There were at least three red dresses that looked great on her as well as a black, purple and green. Before Felicity could decide, the dresses were swept up by the store clerk and taken to the cash register. The Clerk started scanning them into the system.

"Hey, I wasn't finished choosing which one I want," Felicity said kind of embarrassed that she was forced to admit that she was only buying one.

"Ms. Queen-Merlyn instructed us to charge all to her account," the clerk said.

Felicity's head snapped towards Thea, "the point of this trip is for me to find a gift for Roy, not for you to buy me dresses,"

"I know but you looked so good in all of those dresses. Trust me, I'm not buying these for you, I'm buying these for my brother," Thea told her.

"Neither of your brothers can fit into those dresses, well maybe Tommy might squeeze into one but definitely not Oliver. He's a giant!"

Thea grinned like a Cheshire cat, "so you've been watching my brother?" she teased gently.

"Thea," Felicity said sternly. She was not getting caught up in that trap. Her mouth rambled enough as it was, she didn't need to add more fuel to the fire.

The younger girl sighed, "The green one would go good with a nice black jacket, you can wear it to your product launch. The purple one can be worn to the meeting with the board, one of the red ones for the banquet Isa-ugly is going to throw, the other two red ones for dates and the black one for my birthday that's coming up soon." Thea had already worked out where Felicity would be wearing her new wardrobe.

"Thea I can't let you do this for me?" Felicity protested.

"We are friends are we not?" Thea asked.

"Yes," Felicity replied. She would like to think after the four hours they spent together they had bonded a bit.

"Good, cause I don't have many friends anymore," Thea said sadly.

"You don't?" Felicity questioned surprised. She thought for sure Thea would have a large circle of friends.

"There are many people that want to be my friend but don't have my best interests at heart. I used to associate with them until Roy came along. He showed me who my real friends were and that's surprisingly a very small number," Thea revealed to her.

"Roy definitely won't like me," Felicity said gesturing to herself.

"Quite the contrary, he likes you. He thinks you have sass and says you won't take shit from anyone though he's a bit disappointed in your taste in men. He and Cooper don't get along."

"Speaking of Roy, the point of this trip was for me to find a gift for Roy," Felicity pointed out.

"Oh, this is your gift to him. You've spared him the torture of accompanying me. Trust me, he'll love it. He's not the type of guy that likes people giving him things. He likes to play this tough guy that doesn't need anything or anyone. I'm hoping that eventually he'll think differently and let people see how great he really is but until then he's a work in progress."

Felicity smiled at Thea. She spoke so passionately about Roy. You could feel the love in every word she said about him.

"The mall closes at 8 we better get going to the next store," the brunette said as she handed off the bags of clothes they brought to one of her bodyguards.

"Thea that is six hours away," Felicity said a bit worried.

"Didn't I mention that when I shop, I shop until the mall closes?" the younger girl asked.

"uh no," Felicity says beginning to realise that she is definitely in over her head.

Thea just shrugged before dragging her to a shoe store. They apparently needed to get shoes to go with the dresses.

"I have a date at 8 Thea," Felicity blurted out. She didn't really want anyone knowing about the date but since Thea planned to shop till 8 that would definitely hamper her date preparation.

"We'll pick up a dress for the date at the next store and I'll help you get ready,"

"Didn't I already get two red dresses for dates?" Felicity asked confused.

"Those aren't for this date," the younger girl told her cryptically.

**S-7**

At 7:55pm Cooper knocked on her door. She let Thea answer it for her since she was putting the finishing touches on her make-up. She had brought a nice blue dress at one of the other stores that Thea had dragged her to. It was very modest but showed some of her curves. Felicity thought it was very conservative for a date but Thea assured her she looked good, especially with the fancy braid, the younger girl had put her hair in.

When Felicity exited the bathroom she found Thea and Cooper openly glaring at each other. She was confused because besides the comment Thea made about Roy not liking him, Thea hadn't said anything bad about him. She had been very excited to help her get ready. They had a lot of fun preparing particularly when it came to styling her hair.

"Is everything ok?" she asked hesitantly.

"Great, I'll just be on my way. I hope you enjoy your date Felicity," she said walking towards the door. Just before she closed it shut, she popped her head back inside, "don't forget as soon as you get back to come upstairs and tell me how it went,"

Felicity rolled her eyes. Thea had insisted on knowing the details of her date as soon as she returned unless they were going to continue you their date in one of their apartments. She didn't want to cock block her. Felicity assured her that that was not happening tonight. Thea had seemed pleased with that answer.

Cooper escorted her downstairs to a black Ford Mustang. He opened the door for her and she slid inside. She immediately missed her car. She had grown very attached to the BMW and all of its high tech features. Soon the engine roared to life. Felicity was sure when Cooper took off he left her stomach behind at the apartment.

"Relax baby, you're safe with me," Cooper said.

Somehow Felicity instinctively doubted that. The longer she was in the car the more she detested his driving style. She didn't like the way he handled his car. He was fast and reckless. Oliver was a much better driver. Cooper seemed fond of weaving through traffic and intimidating other drivers. She would never have thought that Cooper drove like that on the road. He was so gentle with her. This person driving was ruff and aggressive.

They arrived at the restaurant in record time. Felicity was sure they had been over the speed limit the entire way there. Cooper threw his keys at the valet and they entered Table Salt. The hostess greeted them. She seemed quite familiar with Cooper especially with the way she touched his forearm.

"Don't be jealous," he whispered in her ear as the hostess guided them towards their table.

"I wasn't," she responded. She was more curious about the professional standards that the staff at the high class restaurant was supposed to follow. Flirting with men who were on dates, didn't seem appropriate to her.

"You were frowning babe," Cooper said to her as he pulled out her chair for her.

Felicity made sure to turn her frown into a smile. Dinner went well. They mainly discussed the tedious process of doing a system wide update especially when there were staff members who turned off their computers after being specifically told to leave them on. Just as dessert arrived, Cooper's phone rang. He took the call away from her. When he returned he explained that there a work emergency and he needed to leave. He bent down and kissed her softly on the lips before leaving. The bill arrived a short time later and Felicity paid it. On the bright side at least she didn't need to drive home with him. On their next date she was definitely driving.

**S-8**

True to her word, Felicity went up to Thea's loft. She knocked on the door and Roy opened the door.

"Thea wasn't lying. You are still alive," he said impressed. "Though you are dressed like a nun, did you have to go and pray to get over the experience?"

Thea's voice called out to him, "Felicity is the best shopping partner ever!" she gushed.

Roy let out a relieved sigh, "thank god. I was afraid she might revert to dragging me through the mall."

He held out his hand to shake hers, "we're even," he said.

Felicity shook his hand firmly, "friends?" she asked hesitantly.

"I thought we were already?" Roy responded easily.

"Come in," Thea yelled, "I want to hear all about the date."

Roy screwed up his features in disgust. She followed him into the loft. Thea was curled up under a blanket on the sofa. There was Chinese take out on the coffee table, two glasses filled with wine and there was a movie on pause on the television.

"Am I interrupting something?"

"Nope," Roy said.

"He's just grumpy that he drew the short stick and had to watch a chick flick with me," Thea said.

Felicity sat down at the end of the sofa.

"So don't keep me waiting, how was it?" Thea asked.

"It was good," Felicity said. She proceeded to give her the details.

"The guy sounds every bit as much of a douchebag as he is," Roy grumbled.

"Cooper is nice. He's the perfect gentleman," Felicity said defending her soon to be official boyfriend.

"Not all that glitters is gold," Roy responded sagely. "He got out of that date without paying a thing and I bet it wasn't the first time."

His comment caught Felicity completely off guard. There was indeed more to Roy as Thea had said. They soon settled into an easy conversation about Lawton and how he was hired to be the building manager. Eventually the conversation turned to Isabel.

"It really sucks that she makes Oliver's life hell at the company," Thea said.

Roy snorted, "Your brother is just a sucker,"

"Not my brother takes his role as a brother seriously. It was the first thing he was ever good at."

"I don't understand," Felicity said.

"Oliver is the best big brother a girl can ever ask for. He doesn't strike out at Isa-ugly because she's the mother of his two youngest sisters. He adores them and they adore him. In his mind, if he hurts Isa-ugly, he's hurting them. He won't do that to them no matter how many insults Isabel throws his way. There's literally nothing she can do to get him out the company other than make him quit and he's not going to quit so they are stuck in this weird cycle."

"Can't Robert do anything?" Felicity asked.

Thea let out a bitter laugh. "He's getting old now and he's resigned to let his wife do what she wants. It's easier for him to say yes to her than no."

Felicity nodded and then changed the topic to something else. Before she knew it, it was well past midnight. Roy escorted her down to her door, just in case something happened between the loft and her apartment door. He mumbled something under his breath about Oliver beating him up if something did happen to her. Felicity ignored the comment. She was probably hearing things.

**S-9**

A few days later, after a meeting with Walter on the Executive floor, Felicity was waiting in front of the elevator to head out for lunch when Oliver stepped up besides her. They waited in silence. When he entered the elevator they both tried to push the button to the basement at the same time. Felicity struggled to fight the blush that threatened to overtake her face.

"I set the menu for the appetisers we are serving at the launch today," he said.

"Great, Ray's been working long hours to make sure everything is going to run perfect," she said before chewing nervously on her bottom lip. She wasn't sure if she should ask him the next question.

"Spit it out," he said realising that she wanted to say something else.

"Do any of the appetisers have nuts? I'm kind of allergic," she said.

"Define kind of allergic?" Oliver asked his eyebrows scrunching together as he tried to figure out what she meant.

"Epi-pen to the thigh and straight to the hospital allergic," she said.

"That's not kind of, that's very allergic," Oliver said seriously.

The elevator dinged and other persons got on and joined them. They both shuffled to the back of the elevator. As more people boarded, Felicity's arm brushed against Oliver's sending a tingling sensation up her arm. Felicity glanced at the safety panel on the side of the elevator that stated what the maximum capacity of the elevator was. Once the elevator hit the ground floor most people exited, leaving Felicity, Oliver and two others to continue on to the basement. Once they were out of the elevator, Oliver checked his phone for a signal and called his assistant while he walked with her towards her car. He ordered his assistant to remove all nuts from the menu. He put his phone away and looked at her car. His eyes widened in shock.

"Did you scrape the rims on the car already? Oliver asked incredulously.

Felicity blushed red, "I was parking to get coffee and the pavement attacked her,"

"The pavement attacked her?" he repeated sarcastically.

"Yes that's what I said. If I needed it repeated I would have a parrot on my shoulder," she glared.

Oliver shook his head, "women drivers," he muttered.

"Jerk!" Felicity said punching his arm only to pull away in pain.

"What are you all muscle or something?" she said cradling her hand.

Oliver smirked, "where are you going for lunch?"

"Big Belly Burger," she replied absently.

"Excellent, I was heading there myself. Keys," he said holding out his hand.

"Excuse me?" she asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Keys, I'll drive us," Oliver said.

"First of all, what makes you think that I want to go with you and secondly, why my car and not yours?"

"Because I like your car," he said.

Felicity reluctantly handed him the keys but only because she didn't feel like driving. She settled into the passenger side and relaxed as Oliver navigated them through the traffic to Big Belly Burger. Sharing a meal with Oliver Queen was much nicer than she imagined it to be. They did not talk about work, instead focusing on why they both liked Big Belly Burger. She even had the audacity to steal fries off of his plate after he insinuated that the burgers were great but the fries not so much. On the way back to work, she fell asleep in her car again. When she woke up it was well past the end of her lunch hour.

"You should have woken me up earlier!" Felicity said to him.

He smiled. "You needed the rest," he said tossing her keys back to her.

**S-10**

The next day Oliver arrived in her office. "Keys," he said.

"Why?" Felicity asked confused. It wasn't lunch time. In fact it was early in the morning.

"Because that is a company vehicle and I will not stand to have a company vehicle with tarnished rims," he said.

"But I'll probably just scrape it again," Felicity replied honestly. "Isn't it better to just leave me with one set of rims and I'll pay to replace the rims when the car is returned to the company?"

Oliver shook his head firmly. "No. I'm going to get the rims protected by some decent looking hub caps. Your car will be back by four," he promised her.

"But I need to head across to Palmer Tech this afternoon," she told him.

"I'm sure Ray can survive one afternoon with you," Oliver said seriously holding out his hand for the keys.

Felicity rolled her eyes and handed him the keys. She had no time to argue over something as trivial as rims.

That night when Felicity walked to her car there was indeed a nice looking set of hub caps on her car but in the middle of the hub caps there were a bunch of letters that distinctly spelt, FANGIRL. Oh she was so going to kill that JERK!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. If anyone is wondering, the dresses that Thea bought were for Oliver not Cooper to see Felicity in. And yes she purposely tried to put Felicity in a dress that wasn't very attractive to turn Cooper off.


	4. The Prince

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Arrow.
> 
> Just a warning that due to the point of this chapter, there is a fair amount of Cooper but there is also Olicity!

It had been three days since the hubcap incident. Felicity had them changed right away to the standard BMW hubcaps. She was determined to exact her revenge on Oliver but she wasn't sure how yet. She knew she wasn't going to do anything right away. He would be expecting that. She was going to bide her time and find the perfect moment to strike. This gave her the opportunity to conduct a little bit more research on him. She needed to find something that would annoy him the way the words FANGIRL annoyed her. Calling him a jerk only seemed to amuse him. She needed that special something that would irritate the hell out of him.

She hadn't told Cooper about the incident with Oliver. In fact Cooper didn't even know that the BMW belonged to QC. He had assumed that the company that had leased the mini to her had upgraded her to a BMW as an apology for what happened with the mini. She had never corrected his assumption. He didn't seem to like the Queens very much and talking about Oliver with Cooper felt very wrong. Cooper also disliked her growing friendship with Roy.

Roy and Cooper glared daggers at each other. It was always awkward when the two of them met except when Thea was around. Cooper would drop the scowl from his face and be pleasant to Roy. She understood that Thea was essentially his boss at Merlyn Global and he didn't want to piss her off by insulting her boyfriend in front of her but it had been very unsettling to see. Roy would end up being the rude one which resulted in a lecture from Thea. Felicity would come to Roy's defence which pissed Cooper off. It seemed to be the only thing she and Cooper ever disagreed on.

She was grateful that Cooper was so patient with her. He understood that, for the moment, most of her time was taken up with the launch but once that happened she would have more time to spend with him. A guy like that was rare to find so she was hoping she could keep him interested with the on-the-go lunch dates.

**S-2**

The doors of the elevator opened, letting Felicity out onto the Executive floor of QC. She walked down to Oliver's office but his assistant wasn't at her desk. The walls of his office were made of glass and she could look straight into it. She didn't see Oliver but she saw two small brunette heads with ponytails barely clearing the back of the sofa. They were clearly little girls. She felt uncomfortable leaving if those children were unattended.

"Are you girls ok?" she asked walking into the office.

"Felicity!" Oliver said in a startled tone.

His head appeared suddenly in front of the sofa. He had been lying on the ground in front of it and was now sitting up staring at her. His face, however, was smeared with red lipstick around his lips, blue and green eye shadow over his eyes, and two enormous red patches of blush on his cheeks.

"What's up with your face?" she asked walking over to take a seat on a chair near the sofa.

"Alexandra and Anastasia wanted to give me a makeover," he said casually as if it were no big deal that one of the Vice Presidents of QC looked like a clown.

"Who are you?" one of the girls asked.

"This is Felicity," Oliver told them. "Felicity these are my other sisters, Alexandra," he said pointing to the girl on the right, "and Anastasia Queen," he finished pointing to the younger girl with a cast on her left hand.

"Rochev-Queen," both girls corrected him with exact replicas of their mother's glare. It was very disconcerting. Oliver wasn't affected at all.

"Mother doesn't like you," Alexandra said crossing her arms over her chest.

"But Daddy likes her," Anastasia said to her sister, "he said she's good for Oliver. Whatever that means."

Felicity blushed while Oliver stared at his sister curiously. That had obviously been news to him.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, he decided to give her an explanation, "I am on babysitting duty."

"So the rumour that Isabel made Robert take her to France to avoid the news headlines about the UNIDAC indictment is true," she asked hopefully.

"Mostly," Oliver said with a brilliant smile, "we were just going to Big Belly Burger, come with us?"

"I rather not intrude on your time with your sisters. I can come back later," Felicity said standing to leave.

"Seriously, come with us, we can discuss it on the way," he said with a look that she found very difficult to say no to, even with the layers of makeup he had on.

Realising he won, he stood up quickly. His sisters automatically each reached for one of his hands to leave. Felicity looked down at the girls and tilted her head to the side curiously. They looked up at her, she glanced at Oliver's face quickly and back at them. They shrugged. Felicity thought she could play along as well. They reached the elevator doors and Oliver looked at his reflection in the door.

"No one was going to remind me to take the makeup off my face?" he asked them.

The girls giggled and Felicity pretended to be noticing it for the first time. He mock glared at her.

"I'm going to go wash my face. I'll be back. Wait here for me and do not move," he said placing his sister's hands in her hands.

Felicity tried to protest but he didn't take her on. She was holding the hands of Isabel's progeny. This was not what she thought she would be doing when she started the day. How did she get roped into this again? Oh right, Oliver's clown face convinced her to join them.

"Your hands are really soft," Anastasia said looking up at her. "Oliver's hands are rough,"

"But her nails are short," Alexandra said to her sister. "Mommy has beautiful nails."

Felicity gave the girl a tight smile. She was not discussing their mother with them. That was one line she was not going to cross.

"You like Big Belly Burger?" Anastasia asked.

"Yes I love it," Felicity admitted to the girls.

"Mummy says it will make you fat," Alexandra cut in.

Oliver returned and Alexandra immediately held on to his hand. Anastasia, however kept holding hers. The younger girl appeared to like her which horrified Felicity. As if she needed something else for Isabel to be angry at her for. The elevator ride was silent. In the parking garage they walked over to a Bentley that Felicity knew belonged to his father. Oliver opened the back door for his sisters.

"Can I sit in the front?" Alexandra asked.

"No," Oliver said firmly. "You do not meet the recommended height to be seated in the front."

The older girl pouted. He helped each of them into their booster seats. Felicity thought it looked quite complicated but Oliver seemed to know what he was doing.

"Everyone ok there in the back?" Oliver asked when he slid into the driver's seat.

"Yes," Anastasia said.

"No," Alexandra said. "I miss your silver BMW."

Felicity interest peaked, "Oliver had a silver BMW?"

"Yes, he had the new one for about a month but it went away," Anastasia pouted again.

Felicity looked at Oliver who looked away guiltily. Had he given her his personal car?

"Oliver would take us for rides in it at night!" Alexandra said.

"Really?" Felicity asked.

"Alexandra suffered a severe case of colic. Driving in cars seemed to be the only thing that calmed her and put her to sleep so I drove her around a lot. The habit just kind of stuck with us."

Felicity smiled. Thea was right. He really was an excellent big brother. He was so gentle and caring with his sisters.

"You wanted to see me about something?" Oliver asked as they drove out of the basement.

"Yeah, I just needed to let you know that we added three more smart TVs to the launch. Please inform hotel of the additional load on the power supply."

"More TVs?" Oliver questioned in disbelief, "We have like ten already."

Sensing their brother's frustration both girls started belting ' _Let It Go'_ from the back seat.

Oliver groaned, "please girls not now."

They giggled.

"I'm guessing the two of you are _Frozen_ fans?" Felicity said to the girls.

"Fan is an understatement. I have to watch Frozen every time I babysit," Oliver grumbled.

"I guess I know what you're watching tonight," Felicity said with a smile.

Oliver groaned again, "Don't remind me. I have five days of _Frozen_ ahead of me,"

"Oh come on, it's not that bad," Felicity said.

Oliver just grunted and an idea occurred to Felicity to exact her revenge.

One month later Oliver's ringtone suddenly changed to ' _Let it Go'_ and no matter what he did it wouldn't go away. In fact, _Frozen_ started popping up on all of his tech devices. He thought he was going crazy.

**S-3**

Felicity felt bad that she couldn't spend much time with Cooper. They were able to meet for lunch a few times during the week and discuss the latest IT news but that was as much as they had been able to do. She was hoping to change that by promising him dinner at her place. Of course she wasn't going to cook. That was a skill that eluded her. She ordered Italian and transferred the food into nice dishes so it would look better than take out boxes.

Felicity was excited for the date. She wore a purple dress that had a cut out right about her cleavage and strappy stilettos. She was hoping that they might take their relationship to the next level tonight. Her bedroom had been cleaned and fresh sheets placed on the mattress in anticipation of a passionate encounter. With another ten minutes before Cooper was supposed to arrive, she decided to throw out the evidence of her non-existent culinary skills.

On her way back from the dumpster at the back of the building, she met Sara and Nyssa in the foyer.

"Hi fangirl," Sara teased her.

Felicity glared, if it weren't for the fact that she knew Sara could break her in half, Felicity would have threatened her.

"You are heading on a date," Nyssa stated with that exotic accent of hers. If Felicity remembered correctly, the both of them were headed on a date as well.

"Did Ollie finally ask you out?" Sara asked hopefully.

"What, no. Cooper's meeting me upstairs for dinner," Felicity told them.

"Who's Cooper?" Sara and Nyssa asked simultaneously.

Felicity's was surprised that they asked that question. They seemed to know everything else about her but who she was dating.

"The douchebag on the 4th floor," Roy, who appeared out of nowhere, answered.

"Roy, would you please stop calling him that. He is not a douchebag," Felicity insisted.

"Not true. Describe your dates to Sara and Nyssa. They'll agree with me," Roy replied confidently.

"How about an early morning Yoga session to catch up, say Monday morning," Sara proposed.

Felicity groaned. She had not done one iota of exercise in the last month.

"We will not accept no for an answer so unless you want us to break into your apartment and drag you to the gym, you will do yoga with us on Monday," Sara threatened.

"Yes mam!" Felicity responded right away. She also felt the need to salute as if Sara were her commanding officer.

The two women seemed satisfied with her answer and went off on their date, leaving Felicity with Roy. They both boarded the elevator together.

"Seriously Blondie, take it slow with him," Roy said.

"We've been going at glacier pace," Felicity said. "Do you know when was the last time I got laid?"

"TMI Blondie! We're friends but I really don't want to know about your sex life," Roy told her with a disgusted face.

The door to the elevator pinged open and she saw Cooper was waiting at her door. She hurried forward to him and greeted him with a kiss.

"I thought you forgot," he admitted when they broke apart.

"Oh no, I just went downstairs to throw out the trash," Felicity told him as she opened up her apartment.

"Funny it looked like the trash was still in the elevator with you," Cooper responded.

Felicity ignored him, not wanting to fight on what was supposed to be a romantic date night. She ushered him into her apartment. She opened the oven pulled out the food and opened a bottle of wine, while Cooper made himself at home. The meal was great. Cooper never once asked her if she cooked the meal. After dinner they settled on the sofa. She lowered the lighting and turned on some soft music. The only thing she didn't do was light candles.

"Are you going to show me those pet projects you keep talking about?" Cooper asked.

Felicity wanted to make out, not talk but she had promised to show him.

"Sure," she said going into the spare bedroom where she had put her precious box.

She returned to find Cooper eager to look at her work. She showed him all of the processor designs she had been working on, from the first one that failed to the new working prototype she had. She wanted to perfect it first before she put it on the market. He was very impressed with her work. Half way through she thought he was more interested in her work than her. He seemed to sense her discomfort and turned back on the charm. Soon they were making out on the couch and Felicity thought that at last she would be able to open the box of condoms she had bought.

Her cell phone ringing disturbed them. The tone indicated it was Felicity's mother. Her mother would keep calling until she answered. Donna Smoak could be irritatingly persistent. She thought it was so ironic that her mother kept pushing her to get a boyfriend and now that she had one and was about to get laid, her mother was the one interrupting her.

Felicity apologised profusely to Cooper and took the call in her bedroom.

"Mom!" she said angrily.

"Felicity!" her mother squealed causing Felicity to hold the phone away from her ear for a bit. You would think by now she would have learnt to do that automatically.

"Mom this is a very bad time," Felicity told her.

"Why do you have a boy over?" Donna asked excitedly.

"Yes," Felicity hissed into the phone.

"Oh baby, you didn't tell me anything. Who is he? What is he like? Is he nice? How far have you reached? Have you slept with him yet? When can I expect grandbabies? Should I be planning a wedding?" she asked excitedly.

Felicity rolled her eyes. It was just like her mother to start planning a wedding before she even met the guy.

"Mom, I'm hanging up now."

"Ok but before you go I just wanted to let you know, I met a guy and he's from your city so I'll be coming out there soon," she said excitedly.

"What?" Felicity asked all thoughts of Cooper waiting in the next room evaporating.

"Don't worry baby, I'll send you a message before I come out. I just need to get my vacation days approved at work and then I will be there. I'm so excited. Bye, love you,"

Donna hung up before Felicity could even respond. She must have stared in shock at the blank wall in front of her for a while. When she eventually returned to the living room Cooper was gone. He left while she was talking to her mom. There was a small note on the coffee table, next to the box that he had neatly repacked for her, that said he thought he should give her some privacy with her mom. Felicity collapsed on the sofa disappointed.

**S-4**

The night before the product launch, Felicity was nervous. She wasn't supposed to go to the ballroom in the hotel where they were having the launch but she wanted to go to make sure everything was in place. It's not that she didn't trust Oliver or the technicians; she just needed to know that she had done everything possible to make it a success. She really wanted to see the look on Isabel's face when the Applied Science Division got off the ground.

Oliver and Ray were there, arguing about the TVs. She wasn't surprised, talk about oil and water.

"Ok boys, calm down," Felicity said getting between them. "What's the problem now?"

"Ray wants to show off more of his product designs on the TVs. This is supposed to be about QC AND Palmer Tech not Palmer Tech alone," Oliver said.

"It's not my fault that QC doesn't have anything to show off on the TVs," Ray countered.

"Actually Ray the idea was to show off products from both companies. QC will be showing off some of the other projects ideas we are developing and other areas QC does work in."

Ray seemed to pout but Anna was there to console him. Half way through the set up Felicity's stomach grumbled.

"Come let's get dinner," Oliver said his hand falling to the small of her back to guide her out. He had been doing that a lot lately.

"No let's finish this," Felicity insisted her hand gripping his forearm.

"I'm not having you faint on me. I need you there tomorrow at the launch," Oliver said applying a bit more pressure to the small of her back to get her to go with him.

"Ok," Felicity relented, grabbing her tablet before they left the room.

As they walked out of the ballroom to go to the restaurant that was located opposite the ballroom on the ground floor of the hotel, Felicity caught sight of a familiar figure. He was standing at the check-in counter with a tall brunette dressed in a tight black dress. The woman's figure was impressive. She watched as the couple received their room key and headed to the elevators. The side profile looked very much like him but she didn't want to jump to any conclusions until she saw his face. They were the only persons waiting for the elevator. When the doors opened they walked inside, his arms wrapped around the woman's waist. He turned to press the button for their floor and she got a clear view of his face. It was Cooper. To add salt to the wound, just before the elevator doors closed she saw him pull the woman close and start to kiss her.

"Hey everything ok?" Oliver asked concerned.

"No, that was Cooper," Felicity said in shock.

Somehow whenever she and Oliver were together the topic of Cooper never came up. Considering that Cooper was supposed to be her boyfriend now she should have at least mentioned that to him but she never did. Oliver though seemed to understand who Cooper was from the sympathetic look he was giving her.

"That was Cooper," she repeated angrily as the full weight of what she had seen started to settle in and ignite a fire with in.

They had just agreed that they were boyfriend and girlfriend and he was cheating on her already. She marched angrily towards the elevator Cooper previously entered. The floor listening indicated it stopped on the 10th floor. She pressed the button to call it back to the ground floor.

"Felicity..." Oliver questioned but stopped abruptly when Felicity threw him a ferocious glare.

The doors opened and she marched in pressing the button for the 10th floor. Oliver shuffled in quickly besides her.

"Oliver, what are you doing?" she asked.

"That's what I've been trying to ask you," he said.

"I'm going to confront Cooper before he tells me it's not what I thought it was. I need to do this. You don't need to be here Oliver," she stated.

"I need to make sure you don't kill him. Blondes don't belong in jail," he joked hoping to lighten the mood a bit.

"I'm not blonde," she replied automatically before grabbing hold of his arm, "Don't tell anyone that!"

"My lips are sealed. Scouts honour," he said with a soft smile.

"You were a scout?" she asked tilting her head to the side to study him properly.

"For one day," he replied honestly.

She rolled her eyes, "that doesn't count Oliver."

The doors to the elevator pinged open and they both stepped out onto the tenth floor. There was no sign of the couple in the corridor.

"What now?" Oliver asked as Felicity busied herself on her tablet.

"He was smart enough not to check in under his name and most of the rooms on this floor are booked," she informed him.

"Felicity, how do you know that?" Oliver asked with caution. He wasn't so sure he really wanted to know the answer to that question.

Felicity gave him a guilty look, "I might have peeked into the hotels systems,"

"You hacked the hotel?" he asked incredulously.

"Hack is such a dirty word Oliver," Felicity said shaking her head in disgust.

"Since you're already there, look for the name Helena Bertinelli," Oliver told her.

She arched an eyebrow at him for clarification.

"That's the woman he was with. She's the heiress to the billion dollar Bertinelli Empire. She's also a crazy ex so I've learned to recognise her from far to avoid her," he explained to her.

"You knew who in the lobby I was referring to?" she asked. The lobby had been quite crowded with people going and coming from the ballroom and restaurant.

"You were stuck in one position for a few minutes staring Felicity. I'm surprised he didn't notice you."

"Oh," she said as she searched the names attached to each room.

"Got them, Room 1005,"

Felicity marched up to the door and was about to knock when Oliver stopped her hand.

"Are you really prepared for this?" he asked her concerned.

"Yes," she told him.

"Let me help you then," he said. He knocked on the door, "room service," he said in a low tone to disguise his voice.

When there was no response he knocked again. On the third knock, an angry voice that Felicity recognised as Cooper's yelled, "We didn't order any room service,"

"It's from the manager, for Ms. Bertinelli. A complimentary bottle of champagne," he said.

A few moments later the door opened to reveal Cooper in his boxers.

"Nice boxers Cooper, pity me, your ex-girlfriend, never got a chance to see them," she said angrily.

"Felicity, this is not what it looks like," Cooper said as predicted.

Oliver snorted next to her.

"Really, you're still going to go with that line," Felicity asked him.

"I'm helping a friend out," Cooper tried to explain.

"With what? Sex?" Felicity retorted quickly.

Oliver made a sort of strangled sound next to her and she swore he mumbled something about Cooper not packing anything significant in those boxers.

"Coop baby, come back to bed," a sultry voice drifted to the door.

"Coop?" Felicity said raising an eyebrow.

He started to prattle on about something but she wasn't listening. She had seen enough, she didn't need to see anymore. "It's over. Goodbye Cooper."

Cooper reached out and grabbed her hand to stop her from walking away.

"Let go of me," Felicity said angrily.

"No, you are not listening to me," Cooper said.

Oliver stepped in at this point and forcibly pulled Cooper away from her and shoved him up against a wall. Cooper tried to struggle out of Oliver's grip, but Oliver was much stronger than him. "She said let go and she really doesn't need to listen to anything you have to say. She's seen enough."

Felicity walked away. She was vaguely aware of Oliver tossing Cooper back into the room and pulling the door shut. Not wanting to wait for the elevator, Felicity headed for the stairs. Oliver quickly caught up with her. She started mumbling to herself. She knew she hadn't been putting out but was he that desperate to get laid. He never pushed her. Perhaps if he had, she would have understood his cheating a bit better. She didn't understand. When she reached the landing on the fifth floor, she leaned against the wall. Oliver stopped besides her and placed his hand on her shoulder giving it a gentle squeeze to let her know he was there for her.

"Why?" she voiced aloud. "We were perfect on paper. We both graduated top of our classes. We're both computer nerds. We both want to make the world a better place through the use of technology. I don't understand. He never said I was lacking in any area. He never pushed me for sex."

Oliver pulled her into his arms, "that guy is just an idiot that didn't know you were the best thing to ever happen to him."

Felicity relaxed into his embrace. She started to cry into his shirt. When she withdrew there were dark wet spots on his shirt where her mascara filled tears had been absorbed.

"I'm so sorry," Felicity said rubbing her hand over the wet spot on his shirt. It didn't occur to her that she was also rubbing his chest in the process.

"You have nothing to be sorry about. Let's get dinner and then we can go back to the ballroom," he suggested taking his hand in hers. He didn't want her to know how much her hand was affecting him.

" _Let it go_ ", started playing in the stairwell and Oliver looked angrily at the phone, "the damn thing won't stop playing that song no matter what I do!" He sounded so frustrated.

As he was raising the phone to his ear he stopped and stared at Felicity and then back at his phone. "You did this!"

Despite everything that had just transpired a cocky smirk settled onto Felicity's face, "took you long enough to realise."

His eyes narrowed and he raised his pointer finger to tell her something but his phone was still ringing. The last look he gave her before he answered the phone promised payback.

**S-5**

Felicity had barely slept that night and had to use make up to cover the dark circles under her eyes at the Launch. She had dressed in the green dress Thea had picked out and added a jacket with accessories also supplied by Thea. There were many prominent journalists in the business and technology sectors there to cover the launch. Both Ray and Robert had speeches planned and they would unveil the prototype together.

The fully functional prototype impressed everyone and they received thousands of advance orders. A lot of interest was also expressed on some of the other projects that Felicity had involved QC in. They couldn't ask for a better launch. Walter was proud of what she and Oliver had accomplished. She was thankful that at least her job was safe. Oliver handled the business journalists and Felicity handled the technical ones. When she was finished with the last one, she settled in a corner of the room with a glass of red wine and a plate full of appetisers.

Ray was soaking up all the attention and she was truly happy for him. Anna stood patiently by his side and acted as a guard rail keeping him from going off in tangents. Their teamwork was perfect and Felicity wondered if she would ever have that; if she would ever find someone that could reign in her babbles for her. She wanted someone that understood her with just a look. She wanted a true partner in life.

"You look pretty glum even though you just had the best launch ever. Isa-Ugly is practically frothing at the mouth," Thea said taking a chair next to her. Roy sat next to his girlfriend and pulled uncomfortably at the tie Thea had probably forced him to wear. They had come to support Oliver.

Felicity looked at Roy, "I suppose this is where you say, I told you so," she said to him.

Roy looked at her confused, "about what?"

"Cooper, we broke up last night,"

"You did?" Thea asked surprised.

"Oliver didn't tell you?" Felicity asked confused.

"No," Thea said.

"Did you finally see what a loser he was?" Roy asked cockily.

"Roy!" Thea reprimanded punching her boyfriend hard in the shoulder.

"It's ok Thea. He was cheating on me with Helena Bertinelli," Felicity said sourly as she stabbed a samosa on her plate with a little more force than necessary.

"Oh," they both said surprised.

"I can't believe Oliver didn't tell you. He seems to tell you everything," Felicity commented.

"He told us about the _Frozen_ prank, great job on that by the way, but he would never tell us about something that is clearly your personal business. Oliver is someone you can trust," Thea explained.

Felicity nodded. She didn't know how it happened but she had grown to trust Oliver implicitly. The subject of their conversation soon joined them dressed in a crisp dark grey suit with a dark blue tie.

"Thank you for coming," he said as he hugged his sister.

"Anytime, though remember you have to return the favour later this year when I finally get my fashion line off the ground,"

Oliver smiled broadly, "I'll be there." He was so proud of his little sister and the work she was putting into launching her own line of clothing called TQM.

"You can even model for me," Thea pushed.

"Thea, you are my sister and I love you but I'm not modelling on the stage. Get Tommy to do it. He would love the attention," Oliver said.

"We'll see about that!" Thea said casting a devious smile at both her brother and Felicity.

**S-6**

Felicity was surprised to see that Harrison Wells was calling her. He had called her the day after the launch to congratulate her on her success so she had no idea what he would be calling about now. She paused her work for a moment to answer the call.

"Hello Ms. Smoak," he greeted her pleasantly over the phone.

"Hello Dr. Wells," Felicity replied.

"What have I told you about leaving your work in places where unscrupulous colleagues could take advantage of it?" he scolded her lightly.

"I haven't left my work anywhere. The box is home," Felicity responded.

"I was just contacted by a company who sought my opinion on a cutting edge processor that a Cooper Seldon was selling," he informed her.

Felicity's stomach dropped. Everything came to a complete stop in her mind. After a minute of silence where Dr. Wells let her process what he said, he spoke again.

"I suggest you attend to this matter right away Ms. Smoak. Remember, I supplied you with a copy of all the documents,"

"Thank you for the information Dr. Wells," Felicity said grabbing her car keys.

"Jerry, I'm taking an early lunch," she told her assistant as she stomped passed his desk.

**S-7**

Felicity tested the limits of the BMW that day, maybe more than she should have. Her being ahead of the lunch time traffic meant that the roads were fairly clear and she was home in record time. Felicity opened her box and started rifling through it. She remembered she hadn't been the last person to pack it, Cooper had. The chip she was looking for was missing. A feral growl tore from her throat, that bastard was not getting away with this. She had a small filing cabinet tucked in the corner of the room and she retrieved the document she wanted from it.

She pushed the car to the limits again before she pulled into an unfamiliar basement parking at the bottom of the Merlyn Global building. She took the elevator up to the Executive floor hoping Thea could point her in the direction of Cooper. The doors opened to a desk with a secretary seated behind it.

"Welcome to Merlyn Global, do you have an appointment?" she asked.

Felicity bit her lip, "No but I would like to see Thea,"

"Ms. Queen-Merlyn is in a meeting, perhaps I can ask her Executive Assistant to schedule a meeting for you?" the woman asked.

As she was about to respond, she heard Cooper's voice float down the corridor to her. She turned on her heel and marched towards him as the secretary told her she couldn't go that way.

"You sick bastard!" Felicity yelled angrily as she decked him. She felt a strange sense of satisfaction as Cooper staggered slightly.

"You stole my microchip. I made that chip. It is mine to sell not yours," she yelled.

She was aware that the secretary behind her was calling security. There was a tall man next to Cooper with short black hair who was surprised by what she had just done. She knew the man was analyzing her but he made no attempt to interfere.

"You're crazy! that is my chip. I can sell it if I want," Cooper said.

A heavy hand settled on to her arm and she pulled away from the man. The security had arrived.

"I am going to the police," Felicity said as the guard secured his grip on her and started pulling her away.

"You would have to prove that I stole it," Cooper said with a wicked gleam in his eye.

"These patent forms that Dr. Wells did for me, say otherwise!" Felicity said waving the document in her hands as the security dragged her away.

"What's going on here?" Tommy asked coming out of his office. "Hey get your hands off of her," Tommy said to the security guard.

"Sir, we were ordered to remove her from this building,"

"Well I'm ordering you to let her go now," Tommy demanded in a no nonsense voice which was very rare for him.

The guard let her go and Felicity gave him a filthy glare. Tommy was by her side in an instant and he ushered her into his office away from everyone else.

**S-8**

Felicity had been in Tommy's office for half an hour already. He was holding her there until she calmed down. He had the audacity to lock her in while he sorted everything out with the police. Cooper was supposedly pressing charges. The door opened and Oliver walked in.

"I heard you caused quite a scene in front of Malcolm Merlyn," he said in an amused tone.

"That was the famous Malcolm?" she groaned.

Oliver crossed his hands over his chest and leaned against the desk in front of her, "yes,"

"You're here to fire me?" Felicity asked.

"Of course not, you're my most valuable employee. Tommy said Malcolm wants to hire you. He's trying to find out your pay package so he can offer you something better," Oliver revealed to her.

"Malcolm Merlyn wants to hire me?" Felicity repeated in disbelief. "Gosh, he's as strange as Thea described."

"My sister is going to be so pissed she missed this," Oliver commented with a small smile on his face.

The thought of Thea's reaction made Felicity smile too. Oliver reached down and gently removed the cloth that was wrapped around Felicity's right hand. After the adrenaline wore off, Felicity realised her right hand was in pain. Cooper's jaw was harder than she thought. Tommy's assistant had wrapped some ice in a cloth and put it on her hand for her.

"Looks like you sprained it. I'm going to have to teach you how to throw a proper punch," he said as he gently inspected her wrist. "I'll take you to the doctor after this. You should get your wrist wrapped for support,"

The door opened and Tommy stepped back inside.

"After my father subtly hinted that nothing had happened, Cooper decided not to press charges but he still insists the chip is his," the younger Merlyn informed them.

"It's not. It is mine. He stole it from me," Felicity repeated fiercely.

Tommy reached into his top desk draw and pulled out a business card.

"This is my girlfriend's contact information. She's the best lawyer in town,"

Felicity looked down at the card he handed her, "Laurel Lance is that..."

"Sara's older sister," Oliver finished for her.

"Yes," Tommy answered. "I can set up a meeting with her as soon as possible."

Felicity nodded. She was not letting Cooper get away with this.

That was how The Prince became The Back-Stabbing Stealing Bastard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is titled The Jerk. Can you guess what it's all about?
> 
> For those of you that read Treasure the next chapter will be out tomorrow and the Sequel to Adam Queen will be posted the day after that.


	5. The Jerk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Arrow.

Felicity waited for gorgeous Laurel nervously in the client meeting room. In preparation for meeting with the lawyer, Felicity did a little background research on her. Laurel started off her career working at a placed called CNRI which offered legal aid to persons that needed it. From there, she joined the District Attorney's Office where she quickly shot up the ranks. Eventually, she left the office and joined as a partner at one of the most respected firms in Starling City. Felicity realised she still very much believed in helping people because at least half of her cases were pro-bono.

Felicity had always thought soap operas were melodramatic and not a reflection of real life but the story between Laurel, Oliver and Tommy could have been taken from any of the leading soap operas. The only thing missing was she was not pregnant with a baby that could have been fathered by either of them or a third party. The history between them intimidated her. She wondered how Tommy and Oliver could remain so close.

Both men wanted to come with her. She reminded them kindly that she was not a child but after that did not sink in she had to use her loud voice on them. Tommy had already done enough. He had gotten her a meeting the next day with Laurel. He had also called Captain Lance so she could report the chip stolen. Oliver had driven her to the station and stayed with her.

The door to the office opened and a tall brunette with blonde highlights walked in. She was dressed in a pants suit and carried a black brief case with her. Felicity assumed she was coming directly from court.

"Hello Felicity, I'm Laurel Lance," she said offering her hand to shake.

"Hi, I'm Felicity or as everyone is so fond of calling me, the new girl," Felicity babbled.

Laurel laughed. "Yes I imagine it's kind of intimidating being new in a social circle. I practically heard all about this case before I even met you. Did you bring the documents with you?"

"Yes, I have a copy of the police report and the copies of the patent forms. The originals are with Dr. Wells. He did all the work for me. All I did was sign the forms."

"Ok my dad will handle the criminal side of things but the likelihood is Cooper won't be charged with theft. Your best option is a civil suit. You have everything patented so he is in violation of the patent. We will start with a cease and desist letter and then move forward from there," Laurel said to her.

"Ok," Felicity replied. She would follow whatever advice was recommended.

**S-2**

The day after the launch, Ray held a post-launch meeting at Palmer Tech. The meeting wasn't as formal as Felicity thought it was going to be because as soon as she they all sat down, Ray pulled out a bottle of champagne.

"It's time to celebrate," Ray said as his assistant brought a tray full of champagne flutes into the meeting.

"I thought this was a serious meeting," Oliver said voicing Felicity's thoughts.

"It is, but we should also take the time to enjoy our wins, Oliver. I started this company to better society and this project is a step in that direction. Smart wearables was just a means to fund my other initiatives."

Once everyone had a glass of champagne in front of them Ray held up his glass, "to the successful partnership of Palmer Tech and QC! May it continue to grow and produce more innovative technologies. May it…. "

As Ray babbled on and people clearly got tired of holding their glass in the air, Oliver inched his chair closer to Felicity. He leaned in whisper to her.

"Are you sure you and Palmer aren't related?"

Felicity glowered at him.

"Ray," Felicity said in a tone that indicated to the other man that he needed to stop his long passionate monologue.

"Oh sorry, cheers!" he said lifting the glass to his lips to take a sip.

Once the toast was over they got down to the serious business of reviewing the orders and setting the deadlines by which the factory should have everything delivered to their customers.

**S-3**

Thea had been right! Isabel did throw a gala after the successful launch to highlight that the company was going in a positive direction but also to gloat over her competitors. Felicity, much to her chagrin was required to attend. She didn't have a date but Thea assured her going stag was ok. Thea also did her hair, make-up and nails for her. She was beginning to think that the younger woman thought of her as a real life Barbie that she could play dress up with. Thea had decided that none of the previous dresses she had bought the IT expert were acceptable and used one of her own pieces that she was creating for her launch.

Thea claimed that Felicity had inspired the piece. The heiress wanted to develop a line of clothes specifically targeted at confident independent business women. She particularly wanted to design outfits that could go straight from the board room to dinners with just minor adjustments. Thea had witnesses firsthand that sometimes there was literally no time to change between events. You had to make your outfit work. The dress was a red sleeveless floor length gown. The bodice as cut in a V that stopped just above her cleavage and hugged her body to her hips where the material flared out a bit. She loved the way the bottom of the dress flowed as she walked. It made her feel like a princess from one of those Disney movies and she needed a prince to waltz with.

She was a little late when she arrived, so the ballroom was fairly crowded but that didn't stop her eyes from automatically finding Oliver. There was just something about the way that Oliver wore a suit that was so appealing. Felicity couldn't put a finger on it exactly but compared to every other man in the room, he just stood out. Oliver had that extra something that drew her in. She was surprised that he wasn't with a leggy brunette model. She had heard that was his type. Instead Oliver was flanked on either side by his younger sisters, each in a designer gown. Even though they were dressed up, Isabel had kept it very kid appropriate. She was surprised the girls were even there.

Her eyes scanned the room to see who else she recognised. There were many prominent socialites in attendance including one Helena Bertinelli and Cooper Seldon. Felicity frowned. Cooper had to know she would be in attendance. He was doing it purposely. On the opposite side of the room she spotted Ray and Anna so she decided to head in that direction. She could do with a little Dr. Who debate about who was the best doctor or who was the best companion.

After a lively debate with Ray, he had to move on to talk with other investors which left Felicity to wander through the ballroom looking for a safe haven. From snippets of conversation that she heard around her she gathered that Isabel was basking in the success of QC, even though it was Oliver's win. Isabel was talking with lots of potential investors and reminding everyone that in a time of economic downturn the company was doing remarkably well due to hers and Robert's leadership. It made Felicity angry but she knew there was nothing she could do to change the internal family politics of the company.

Felicity found a nice secluded spot in the corner, close to the kitchen where the waiters came out with the appetisers, to observe the room. A tug on the skirt of her dress drew attention downwards.

"Anastasia, hello," Felicity said surprised.

"Hello Felicity," the little girl said.

"Where is your brother?" Felicity asked her.

"I left him somewhere over there," Anastasia said pointing over to her left.

Felicity could see Oliver's head over a group of women. He seemed to be anxiously looking around. She caught his eye and signalled for him to come over. He soon arrived with Alexandra in tow.

"You stole half of my date," he said pointing to his little sister.

Felicity shook her head, "Anastasia isn't half of anything. She is **one of** your dates," Felicity corrected him.

"I agree," Isabel butted in.

Felicity was startled. She had spent the entire night making sure she wasn't near that woman. The less interaction she had with her, the better.

Isabel frowned at her youngest daughter, "Anastasia when I agreed to let you come to the gala it was with the understanding that you would not leave your brother's side. You gave me and Oliver quite a scare when you disappeared."

"I'm sorry," Anastasia said with her head bowed.

"That is not good enough. Anything could have happened to you here. When you promise me to stay with your brother you need to honour that. You cannot go wandering off," Isabel said to her daughter.

"But there are bodyguards all around and I saw Felicity, and I wanted to talk to her. I'm safe here," Anastasia argued.

"The bodyguards are guarding everyone in general not specifically you. That was your brother's responsibility," Isabel said glaring at Oliver. "I am your mother and I determine where you are safe, not you. I may have been talking with a lot of people but I can assure you, I've kept both you and your sister in my line of sight for the entire night. You have sorely disappointed me tonight," Isabel said.

Anastasia's eyes began to gather water and Oliver was going to intercede but Felicity put a hand on his arm to stop him. Isabel crouched down and hugged her daughter showering her with kisses. "Mommy loves you very much but don't think crying is going to get you out of this. You will be going home half an hour earlier than previously agreed,"

"But!" Anastasia started to whine.

"No buts, if you wanted to stay longer you should have followed the rules," Isabel told her daughter sternly.

Felicity's heart went out to the little girl.

"Isabel, before she goes can I take her to the desert bar for some cheesecake," Felicity asked. Young children were supposed to like sweet things.

"Please mom, can I go with Felicity?" the young girl begged her mother.

Isabel frowned. "Anastasia, I taught you to respect adults, she is either Ms. Smoak or Aunty Felicity,"

"Aunty Felicity," Anastasia corrected herself excitedly.

Isabel sighed, "you can go,"

The little girl started tugging Felicity towards the desert bar she had been pestering Oliver to go to earlier.

"Felicity," Isabel called out, "She is only allowed one slice. Anymore and she will be sick tonight,"

"Yes Mrs. Rochev-Queen," Felicity replied.

"Since you appear to be sticking around for a while, you may call me Isabel," the older woman conceded.

Felicity almost tripped over her foot in disbelief. She was now on a first name basis with Isabel. Who would have ever thought that would happen?

They arrived at the desert bar to find various types of cheesecake. Anastasia didn't know which one she wanted. Felicity was fairly sure if Isabel had specified that she could only have one slice, Anastasia would have tried one of each.

"How about we make a deal, I'll take the chocolate cheesecake, you take the strawberry cheesecake and then we'll cut them in half and share them. That way we both get to try it without having more than one slice," Felicity proposed.

"Deal," Anastasia said her face lighting up.

They found a deserted table near the entrance where they could enjoy their desert. Before she could cut it in half, Oliver and Alexandra joined them. Anastasia stared longingly at their cheesecakes.

"Aunty I want to try those too," she said her lips turning down in a cute pout.

"Ok, we can cut our cheesecake in fours and share a piece with each other," Felicity suggested.

Alexandra protested that she wanted her cheesecake all to herself but her sister begged her. She caved to her younger sister's demands. While the girls were busy sampling the cheesecakes and debating which one was better, Oliver scooted closer to Felicity.

"Why did you stop me earlier with Isabel," he asked her.

"Because she is their mother Oliver. She has a right to discipline her children anyway she sees fit as long as it doesn't physically or emotionally abuse them. Yes it may seem cruel but she can't wait until they are teenagers to try to teach them discipline. By that time they could be hooked on drugs. She needs to do it now."

"I suppose if someone had been stricter with me growing up, I might not have wasted so many of my teenage years and early twenties hung over," Oliver mused.

"So how come your sisters are you dates tonight Oliver?" Felicity asked curiously.

"They really wanted to come and I had no one to go with," he said shrugging, "I didn't see any harm in bringing my little sisters." He leaned closer to her and she got a whiff of his cologne, damn that man smelled good.

"Plus it gives me a great excuse to get out of here early," he added.

"I wish I had an excuse to get out of here early," Felicity admitted.

A twinkle in Oliver's eye told her he was up to something.

"How about you offer to drop us home?" he suggested.

"Will that really work?" Felicity asked hopefully.

"Absolutely!"

**S-4**

Oliver was loading the booster seats into the back seat of the BMW when Alexandra blurted something out to her little sister that drew his attention.

"I told you this was the same car!" She was fiddling with the floor matt in the back.

"What makes you say that?" Oliver asked.

Alexandra pulled aside the matt on the back to reveal a stain in the flooring.

"Ana dropped her grape juice there just before the car disappeared. We covered it over with the matt," Alexandra told them.

"Ally you weren't supposed to tell anyone that," Anastasia said horrified.

Oliver glared, "I thought I've told you girls no drinking or eating in the cars."

"Sorry," they both said at the same time with shoulders slumped.

"I was going to take you for an extra long drive but I should follow your mother's example and drop you straight home," Oliver said.

"No, no, no, we want the long drive," Alexandra said.

Oliver shook his head, "we are going straight home."

Alexandra slapped her sister's arm, "see what you caused."

"I didn't tell him!" Anastasia hissed back.

"Girls! No fighting please," Oliver said firmly.

Both girls bowed their heads and got peacefully in the back seat. As usual Oliver drove. Felicity had an idea where they lived but she had never been to that part of town before. As they passed a large gate with a Q in it Felicity was about to ask if they had missed the house when Oliver cut her off.

"We're almost there,"

They turned into the driveway after the Q. Two maids were waiting for the girls. Oliver asked her to wait just a few minutes for him. He unloaded the booster seats and put them in the massive garage that housed at least ten cars. He entered the house and returned with a basket which he placed in the back seat.

"Felicity do you trust me," he asked her as he slid into the driver's seat again.

"Yes," she replied without even missing a beat.

When they returned to the main road, instead of turning left to head back into the city, he turned right.

"Where are we going?" Felicity asked curiously. It was night, and she was alone in her car with a man in an area she didn't know but she didn't have the slightest bit of fear or doubt.

He smiled, "I take the girls this way when we're driving. There's a clearing up ahead that has a good view of the stars."

"Are we going to talk about that fact that this is your car?" Felicity asked.

"You needed a car, we have over twenty. There was no decision to make. The BMW was already purchased through the company," Oliver shrugged it off as if it were no big deal.

Soon they were at the clearing that Oliver described. He took the basket out of the back seat and spread a blanket over the hood of the car.

"The heat from the engine will keep us warm," he said sitting on the hood and leaning back to look at the stars.

Felicity followed suit.

"Wow, it really is beautiful," she said as she stared up at the twinkling stars.

"Yeah, no light pollution out here. Do you know any of the constellations?" he asked.

"I had a boyfriend that was into astronomy. He tried to teach me but I could only spot the easy ones," she told him.

Oliver started pointing out the ones that he knew. After a little while, he went back to the basket and pulled out a bottle of wine, two glasses and some sandwiches. He then moved the blanket onto some grass by the side of the car so they could enjoy the wine. Felicity was careful to tuck her dress under her and Oliver gave her his jacket to stay warm.

"I thought you lived out here as well?" Felicity asked before taking a sip of her wine. It was easily the best wine she had had since she moved to Star City.

"I live with my mother which is the house right next door, the gate with the Q," Oliver said.

"Your mother lives next to Isabel?" Felicity asked horrified.

"No Isabel lives next to my mother. My mother was there first. Isabel was mad when my mother got the house in the divorce so she brought the property next door for a ridiculous price and moved in. Isabel refers to her as the Wicked Witch of the East."

"Isn't it supposed to be Wicked Witch of the West?" Felicity asked.

"Yeah but my mom is East of Isabel,"

"I suppose it made it easy for you to see you father?" Felicity commented.

"When the divorce happened I was away in college. When I eventually got my degree, I lived in the loft that Thea lives in now. When Thea wanted to move out of the mansion, I gave her the loft and I moved in with my mother. Even though she has Walter now, I thought it was best for one of her children to be with her. It's also closer to the girls if they need me,"

Felicity smiled softly, "Thea says you adore them."

"I do. Even though Isabel is their mother they are still my sisters just like even though Malcolm is Thea's father she is still my sister. Sometimes it's hard to balance all of their needs. That day we first met, I was supposed to spend the entire day with Thea but Anastasia called. She had just broken her arm and she was scared to tell Isabel. I didn't know how bad it was and I needed to get to her right away. I know Thea said she understood but I knew she was disappointed."

"That's why you were so rude," Felicity concluded.

"I didn't mean to be but you were standing in the way,"

"I understand," Felicity said reaching out and putting her hand on his.

"Was Isabel mad?" Felicity asked curiously as Oliver shifted their grip so that Felicity's hand was in his much larger hand.

"Only after the Doctor put a cast on Anastasia's hand and declared her fit to head home. Despite how frigid she is at work, she does love her children."

"Yeah I concluded as much tonight," she said holding her empty wine glass out to him to pour her another.

"You really like your wine," he said to her.

"I do," she said with a large smile.

**S-5**

Felicity was vaguely aware of the car coming to a stop. She had started to drift off the minute she sat in the car. Perhaps she shouldn't have drunk half of the bottle on her own. Oliver's cologne soon invaded her senses again and the seat belt that had been constricting her movement had been removed.

"One more minute," Felicity mumbled. All she needed was one more minute of sleep and then she would go on her way.

She soon felt herself being lifted out of the car and cradled against a hard chest. Felicity's eyes flew open. She was staring at Oliver's neck.

"Oliver?" she questioned.

"Thea's room is always ready in case she wants to come home and spend the night. She won't mind if you stay there tonight,"

"I can drive home," Felicity insisted.

"I don't want my best employee falling asleep on the way home. It's safer to stay the night," Oliver said shifting her in his arms so that he could open the front door to the Mansion.

"But your mother..."

"My mother is not here. She took Walter on a vacation to celebrate the Applied Sciences launch and even if she was here, she has asked to meet you."

"She has?"

"Yes,"

Felicity wasn't quite sure what to do with that piece of information as Oliver carried her through the mansion. Soon he was pushing open another door and walking over to a bed. He pulled back the covers and then placed her gently on the bed.

"I don't think Thea's clothes might fit you," he said as he gently took her heels off for her.

"Are you calling me fat?" she complained.

"No, I'm just saying you have a nice ass," he said as he walked out of the room.

Felicity was too sleepy to reprimand him. He soon returned with one his shirts.

"You can change into that. I'm the next door to the right if you need anything ok,"

Felicity nodded sleepily. The bed was so comfortable she was fairly sure she would be sleeping in her gown. Before he left the room, he bent down and kissed her softly on her temple. Felicity found herself leaning into it.

"Good night Felicity,"

"Good night Oliver," she mumbled.

**S-6**

A few days later, Sara and Nyssa dragged Felicity to the gym to meet up with Oliver to learn how to punch. Felicity was staring at the punching bag in front of her. Oliver stood next to her.

"Hold your hand up?" he instructed.

"It's still healing Oliver so I don't see the point of this," Felicity whined.

"You have a left hand Felicity. Just because you are right handed doesn't mean you should only train your right hand. Now hold up your left hand,"

Felicity grumpily showed him her left hand. Oliver went through the process of making a fist with your hand. Once he was satisfied that she was doing it correctly, he settled himself in front of the punching bag. He asked her to watch his stance and the way his body moved when hitting the punching bag. He hit the bag and the bag swung away from him, the chain holding it from the ceiling clanging as it swung. He easily caught it when it returned to him. It was an impressive display but instead of paying attention to the stance Felicity paid attention to the way his muscles flexed as he moved.

"Your turn," he said.

Felicity stood in front of the punching bag and attempted to punch it. She rebounded backwards away from the bag. It was only Oliver's hands on her shoulders that kept her from falling on her butt.

"Your stance is all wrong," he admonished "were you even paying attention to what I was showing you."

He moved his hands to grip her hips to prevent her from falling over as he adjusted her feet with his foot. He then showed her how to swing her hips to give her punches power. The next punch she took actually made the bag shake a teenie-weenie bit. Oliver drilled her on the punching bags before assigning her some weights to improve her upper body strength.

"What do you usually do now?" Felicity asked as she finished the last set of ten he had given her to do with the five pound weights. They had at least an hour and a half before QC would officially open.

"I go up to the office and read reports. They usually put me to sleep, especially technical reports from the Applied Sciences Division," he said winking at her before he continued, "and then I'll take an hour nap on the couch. My assistant will wake me up for my first meeting or if Isabel is around," he said.

"I work hard on those reports Oliver!" Felicity said poking him in the chest.

"I know," Oliver said grabbing her finger and holding it tenderly in his hand, "but not everyone understands them. That first meeting you attended with Ray, I spent the entire meeting googling what you and Ray were talking about on my phone because I didn't understand a thing you were saying!" Oliver admitted.

"I did notice you on the phone. I thought you were messaging your girlfriend or something,"

"No girlfriend to message," Oliver replied quickly. She got the sense that he was hinting at something though.

"Since you're so kindly teaching me to punch, why don't you stop by my office when you're not busy and I can explain the parts you don't understand," Felicity offered.

"Deal," he said.

"Deal," she replied.

Five hours later, just before she was getting ready to head up to the cafeteria for lunch, Oliver arrived in her office with sushi.

"No Big Belly Burger," she sulked.

"It's not exactly healthy Felicity," Oliver pointed out to her.

"Humph," Felicity pursed her lips. "Only because you've been upgraded from Jerk, will I accept this."

"I've been promoted?" he asked taking a seat opposite her.

"Yes, you're now decent enough to be a friend," she told him reaching for her box of sushi.

"I guess I'll just have to take what I can get," he said smiling at her before she started inundating him with technical terms.

**S-7**

Two weekends later, it was Thea's birthday. Her friend started her day with brunch with her mother, Oliver and Walter before starting to get ready for her party. The party was being hosted at the club that Oliver and Tommy ran together, Verdant. Felicity had tried to get out of going but the little spit fire named Thea Queen-Merlyn insisted that Felicity needed to accompany her in the limo. The boys would meet them at the club.

She got ready with Laurel and Thea in the loft. Again it seemed like Felicity had become a Barbie doll but this time she had company. Thea had her professional hair stylist, make-up artist and manicurist attend to them. She had a field day instructing her specialists how she wanted each of their hairstyles, their nails and make-up. By the time they were finished Felicity thought it was a different person staring back at her in the mirror.

Thea had ordered Felicity to sex it up so Felicity selected a short black cocktail dress that stopped mid thigh. Most of her back was exposed except for a few bands of cloth that ran across her back. She paired the dress with sky high black strappy stilettos. Thea was impressed.

"You're going to knock Ollie's socks off!" she squealed.

Felicity blushed, as tempting at that sounded, it couldn't possibly be true. They got off to such a bad start. "Thea your brother and I are just friends."

"The Nile is not just a river in Egypt," she chirped happily.

Felicity ignored her. She was not in denial. Oliver Queen did not like girls like her. He still teased her that she was a fangirl.

Diggle soon arrived to collect them. She swore she heard the bodyguard mutter something about catching the look on Oliver's face. On the way out, they passed a group of paparazzi as well as a few of their neighours. The limo was nice. There was a chilled bottle of champagne waiting for them and Thea didn't hesitate to open it. By the time they got to the club Felicity was already feeling a slight buzz. Roy met them in front of the club.

"Looking hot Blondie," Roy said. He was dressed in a suit and tie. From the stiffness of his posture Felicity knew he was uncomfortable but he was only making the effort for Thea.

"You don't clean up too bad either," she said pulling on the end of his tie.

"Oliver's really going to go crazy tonight," Roy commented.

"Why is everyone always mentioning Oliver?" Felicity asked exasperated.

He smirked at her with that same look he had the first day she met him, "Dick," she said.

Diggle guided Felicity and Laurel to the VIP section of the club. The room was crowded mostly with Thea's friends but she was still able to pick Oliver out instantly. It was like she was a compass but she didn't point to the magnetic north pole, she pointed to Oliver. His back was towards her but through the reflection of a mirror near him she could see a young buxom brunette was talking with him. The girl was flirting, playfully resting her hand on his chest. Felicity felt a rush of anger in her system and tore her eyes away. She reminded herself that she was just his friend and he was free to pick up any girl he wanted.

Felicity decided to head to the bar. A lot of the young guys were staring at her. Maybe she should have picked out a dress a tad bit longer. Soon Thea arrived at the entrance to the VIP room, escorted by her boyfriend.

"Happy Birthday," everyone yelled.

Thea pretended to be surprised and grateful even though everyone knew she planned her own birthday party right down to the last detail. Felicity ordered another glass of champagne. She started with that, she was going to stick with that. She didn't want to get too drunk. She had just ordered her drink when a tall guy with red hair settled next to her.

"Hello, can I buy you a drink?"

"It's a free drinks party," Felicity pointed out.

"Best time to offer a girl a drink," he said. Felicity thought he was kind of a sleezy.

The bartender placed her champagne flute in front of her. "You're a bit too late," she told him.

"Then how about a dance, beautiful," he said with what was supposed to be a charming smile. On any other girl it might have worked but Felicity had recently become immune to such smiles. When you worked with a man like Oliver Queen, all other males just seemed to pale in comparison.

"No thank you," she said politely.

"Come on, I can see you want to dance," he said holding on to her hand,

Felicity pulled away from him easily, "I said no."

"Come on baby," he said reaching for her hand again.

Just as Felicity was getting ready to hit the guy another hand interceded, stopping the guys hand in midair. Felicity recognised the hand immediately. It could only belong to one Oliver Queen.

"She said no," he said in a low threatening tone. She had never heard such a tone from him.

"This doesn't concern you buddy," he spat at Oliver.

"It most definitely concerns me," Oliver said. Felicity could tell from the tension in his shoulders, he was getting angrier.

"I was here first," the redhead said to Oliver.

"It doesn't matter who was here first or not. I am not dancing with you," she told the redhead.

Felicity looped her hands through Oliver's free arm, "come Oliver let us go on the dance floor. Leave him alone."

She had to tug really hard before he left with her. Once they were on the floor, Felicity hands easily circled his neck and his hands wrapped around her waist. She looked into Oliver's eyes. She could hardly see the blue in his pupils because his eyes were dilated. She wondered if hers looked the same way. She noticed when he glanced down at her lips. This caused her to automatically lick her lips. His eyes darted back to her lips again. Soon he was leaning slowly in. Felicity leaned closer and right before they met she closed her eyes. The kiss felt amazing. Fireworks were exploding behind her eyelids.

Felicity Smoak, a nerd from Las Vegas was making out with the hottest bachelor in Star City, Oliver Queen, in the middle of the dance floor. She felt like was on cloud nine and she definitely didn't want to come down any time soon.

**S-8**

The first thing that Felicity became aware of was the warmth that was cocooning her body. She nuzzled her nose into her pillow eliciting a groan. Through the fog, she realised that a pillow was not supposed to groan. She opened one eye and was greeted with the sight of a neck that led to a strong jaw line that was covered in stubble.

"Good morning," he said.

"Hi," Felicity squeaked as she realised she was cuddled next to a very naked Oliver.

She was inundated with memories from the night before. It had been a night filled with passion and he certainly knew what he was doing. She realised she was slightly sore but it was kind of pleasant knowing what caused it.

"I know this is kind of backwards," Oliver admitted, "but would you like to go dinner with me?"

"Dinner as in a date?" Felicity asked trying to point angle her mouth so that her morning breath didn't hit him but she still maintained eye contact.

"Yes," he answered his eyes boring into hers.

"Yes," Felicity answered. "I suppose I need to upgrade you again."

"What's my new title," he asked.

"Boyfriend,"

Oliver's lips crashed against hers and soon they were starting round four.

**S-9**

An hour later, Felicity followed Oliver into the kitchen. He promised her breakfast, even though it was close to midday. He also promised that at that hour in the morning his mother would not be there. He was dead wrong because there seated regally around a small table in the kitchen was Moira Queen daintily sipping from a fine china tea cup.

"About time," she smiled at them.

Felicity tugged at the edge of Oliver's baseball shirt that she was wearing in an effort to try and cover more of her thighs.

"Mom, what are you doing here?" Oliver asked.

"Having tea Oliver," she said as she placed her tea cup down on the saucer. It didn't make a sound.

"I meant at home," he said his tone laced with an undertone of anger.

"The last time I checked Oliver this was my home," she pointed out completely unaffected by her son's tone.

"Yes but you're never here at this hour on a Saturday," he pointed out.

Moira arched an eyebrow, "Are you monitoring my movements Oliver? I had enough of that during the divorce," she chided him.

Oliver ran a hand through his hair and Felicity knew he was frustrated. He hadn't intended for this to happen.

"I raised you better than this. Offer Ms. Smoak something to drink. Thea may have left some coffee for you there on the island,"

Oliver walked over to the island and passed Felicity a cup that was labelled with her name. It was still hot. Thea must have just delivered it. Felicity took her first sip. She definitely needed coffee in her system to begin processing the fact that she was standing before the Queen matriarch in her son's Star City Rocket's baseball jersey.

"Ms. Smoak, I must admit that I was hoping to meet you under different circumstances but Oliver and Walter have not been acceding to my requests to meet you so I took matters into my own hands," she said taking another sip of her tea before standing, "I hope to see you again." The matriarch then looked at her son, "as you know Oliver I am now very late for tea at the country club, please excuse me."

After a minute of silence Felicity burst out, "that was the most embarrassing moment I have ever had. It ranks right up there with the time I threw up on a cop."

"If it makes you feel any better, I peed on a cop car," Oliver said soothingly rubbing her back.

Felicity glared at him, "Don't remind me of what a jerk you can be,"

"But I'm your jerk now," Oliver countered.

Felicity smiled softly, "yes all mine," she said looping her hands around his neck and reaching up on tiptoes to kiss him.

**S-10**

After Felicity finished washing the dishes they used to eat breakfast, Oliver wiping and putting them away right away, she contemplated returning to her apartment building.

"Oliver I can't return wearing the same dress!" she when he put away the last dish.

"Why not?" he asked.

She glared; men could be so clueless sometimes. "Because lots of people saw us leave the apartment and according to my phone, the tabloids are plastered with pictures of us together from both the party and the gala. Heck the cover of gossip city has a close up of our faces stuck together in a lip lock."

"You could stay here all day and return at night when no one would see you. I'm sure we can find something to do," he said wiggling his eyebrow at her.

She threw an orange that had been in the fruit basket on the island at him. He caught it in one hand.

"Is there anything you can't do?" she asked.

"Hack a computer," he answered easily.

She raised her index finger at him threateningly, "what did I say about that word,"

He smiled widely at her before pulling her into his arms and kissing her.

**S-11**

Early Monday morning, more than 48 hours after she first left to go to Thea's birthday party, Felicity returned to her apartment building. She tried to sneak past the same night guard that saw her leave on Friday night. The guard arched an eyebrow at her. She was busted. She held her head high and walked as quickly as she could to the elevator.

An hour later, when she exited the building dressed for work, she found Oliver leaning against the BMW with two cups of coffee. She smiled. As he handed her the cup she could see it was labelled Fangril! If her coffee wasn't so precious she would have thrown it at him so she had to settle on punching his arm.

"Ow," he said rubbing his bicep.

She smiled at him, "my boyfriend has been teaching me to punch properly,"

Oliver arched an eyebrow, "he has? He must be so tired of trying to teach a Fangirl,"

Felicity narrowed her eyes at him, "I would use my knee next but I need that particular area functioning properly,"

Oliver smirked, "I'm sure you do,"

"Jerk," Felicity responded.

He kissed her on her temple before picking up his coffee and walking over the driver's side.

**S-12**

Friday evening Oliver knocked on the door to her apartment to pick her up for their date. Felicity was ready. She had made sure to get home early to prepare. She glanced at her reflection one more time to make sure her make-up was still good and her hair was still in place. She opened the door and found Oliver standing there, shifting his weight from side to side. He had a dozen red roses in one hand.

"For you," he said holding out the roses to her.

"Thank you," she said accepting the roses. She lifted them to face and inhaled. They smelled wonderful. "Let me just put them in a vase,"

Once she got the flowers situated on her coffee table she looked up at Oliver he was looking at the packaging from the three benzos she took.

"You're nervous?" he asked.

"Yes but I don't know what I have to be nervous about. I've already seen you naked, multiple times naked," she said her eyes roaming over Oliver's form.

"I have an idea, how about we skip the dinner and go straight to the naked part," he said walking over to her by the sofa.

"What about our date?" she protested as Oliver towered over her.

"I can move the reservation to tomorrow," he told her his eyes glancing down to her brightly coloured lips.

"But this is our first date," Felicity whined.

"Technically the night under the stars could have been our first date," he pointed out.

"But you didn't kiss me," she pouted cutely.

"I did, on your temple, not all first dates have to end with a kiss on the lips," he stated sagely.

"Ok," Felicity agreed pulling him by his tie down to her height so she could kiss him senseless.

They didn't make it to dinner that night or the next or the following weekend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. There is an epilogue next.


	6. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Arrow.

It was amazing how one could manipulate the law to one's benefit. Felicity had wanted Cooper to pay for what he did but he got off with no punitive damages. Since he actually hadn't gained anything from the chip there was nothing Felicity could really do. During the course of the case, Felicity refined her chip to make it more elegant and boost its processing power even more. She wasn't sure if Isabel had manipulated her into selling the patent to QC but the case she made had been very sound. That woman was extremely good at her job. Felicity could find nothing wrong with every point Isabel made regarding selling the chip to QC. Plus the offer Isabel made was amazing. Felicity was now a millionaire plus she owned shares in QC. She would also be overseeing the production and sale of the chip as Head of the Applied Sciences Division.

Her division had been making a name for itself. Several Science and Technology journals had highlighted the research work they were doing as well as their high profile partnerships with Palmer Tech and Star Labs. Those were two ventures that Felicity was particularly proud of. The amount of interns applying to work at QC doubled. If hurt Felicity to turn people away, she remembered what it was like to be a student but she couldn't hire them all. To ease her guilt, she was laying the groundwork to start programmes with MIT and some of the middle tier technology schools that would give all their students work experience. She and Ray were even investigating starting their own technology competition that was opened to anyone with an idea. It didn't matter if you didn't know how to implement your idea; they would pair you with someone with the skills to implement it.

Thea's fashion launch had taken a lot longer to get off the ground. After nine months she was finally hosting her very first show. The younger Queen had somehow convinced Felicity and Oliver to walk the runway modelling two of her signature pieces. In fact, they would be closing the show. After all the professional models did their thing, she and Oliver would have to walk down the runway together.

Felicity was nervous. She was afraid she would trip and fall but at least she knew Oliver was there to support her. Thea agreed to let them walk arm in arm down the runway. They were supposed to be modelling Thea's evening wear for couples or power couples as the gossip magazine had been calling them.

The runway had been set up in the ballroom of one hotel and the after party was being held in the ballroom of another hotel right across the street. Chairs had been set up on either side of the runway. Seats were reserved on the left side in the middle of the front row for Moira, Walter, Malcolm, Tommy, Laurel, Robert, Isabel and the girls. She was surprised that Thea had arranged front row seats for Isabel but she supposed since the girls wanted to see Oliver walk down the runway there was no choice.

On the other side of the runway, directly opposite the Queens, was her mother and friends from Central City. Oliver had insisted that they come. Much to Felicity's chagrin, Oliver and her mother got along very well. She was positive that they conspired against her on a daily basis. After a small hiccup of jealousy with her male Central City friends, Oliver eventually formed a close bond with them.

Every fashion editor, columnist, gossip reporter as well as quite a few celebrities were there for the fashion launch. Not a single seat was empty. Thea was thrilled. She was everywhere back stage. Felicity didn't know how the girl got around so fast. She really earned her speedy nickname. Thea was personally making sure every model was perfect before she went on stage. Not a single thing was to be out of place.

When the ushers were sent to retrieve her from the dressing room her nerves really started to kick in. She walked the entire way, watching the ground to make sure she didn't trip on anything. She was dressed in a long strapless dress that hugged her bodice all the way down to the floor. Thea added a thigh high split on the right side for her to be able to walk. It was emerald green in colour with some tastefully added sequins and lace on the bodice. The slit was highlighted with the lace and sequins as well. It was paired with matching strappy high heels. Moira had allowed Felicity to wear a very expensive diamond set from the Queen family vault. She literally had millions of dollars on her. The security at the launch was super tight.

When she finally stopped at the end of the line of models waiting to walk the stage, she was met with the sight of a very handsome Oliver. He literally took her breath away. Thea had dressed him in a tux but added trimming on the lapels that was emerald green to match her dress. It looked like the same material as well. They looked every bit the power couple that the magazines portrayed them as.

As she passed a flower arrangement near the entrance to the stage, she picked out three red roses. Oliver and Thea looked at her confused.

"You'll see," she said with a small smile.

"As long as it doesn't ruin my show," Thea quipped.

"It won't," Felicity reassured her.

When the last model was on her return walk, they stepped up to the back of the runway. The lights were blinding. Oliver squeezed her hand in support.

"Good luck," the model said as she passed them. The runway was now clear for them. Felicity took a deep breath and started to walk forward. The flashes of the cameras were almost as blinding as the lights but she had grown accustomed to those. They were the most photographed couple in Starling City. At the halfway mark, she made Oliver pause. She threw one rose to her mother, who squealed and the other two to Alexandra and Anastaisa, who were over the moon with happiness. She was fairly sure at least twenty cameramen jumped forward to get photos of her mother and the girls with the roses.

They continued on to the end of the runway and struck the poses Thea insisted would show off her creations in the best light. It also showed off a good bit of Felicity's leg. When they turned around to walk back the way they came she reminded herself that she was almost done. She just needed to keep putting one foot in front of the other and it would be over soon but when they were in almost the identical position to where Felicity had previously stopped, Oliver stopped them. Felicity turned to him only to find him bending on one knee. Felicity's hands flew to her mouth as Oliver pulled out a diamond ring from his pocket.

"Please make me the happiest man in the world. Felicity will you marry me," he said sincerely. His eyes shining with the love he held for her.

At that moment nothing existed but the man in front of her. "YES!" she shouted. She would get down on the ground to hug him but the dress limited her movements.

He slid the ring onto her finger and then stood up and kissed her. They were so engrossed in each other neither heard the loud cheers nor realised that there was a line of models passing them on each side of the runway. Thea was soon breaking them apart as she made her way on stage. She stood in the middle of them, a hand round each of their waists and walked to the front of the runway with them.

A microphone appeared.

"I would like to thank everyone for coming. I hope you enjoyed the show. I need to thank everyone that I worked with that helped make this show possible. There are way too many names to call. I do need to specially thank my family, both of my fathers, my mother who was there whenever I needed her and the best big brother in the world." There was a round of applause while Thea turned to look at Oliver, "Let me also be the first one to congratulate you on your engagement. I couldn't imagine a better sister-in-law than Felicity! Let the festivities begin!"

Felicity was on cloud nine; all thoughts of her mother getting along with Moira and Isabel during the party were forgotten. At one point she caught sight of the three women laughing over a glass of wine but her attention was soon drawn away by someone else.

The next day the photos of their kiss were on every newspaper across the country. The models walking out were in many shots so it was excellent publicity for Thea's brand. She had thousands of orders for all of her pieces. The video of the proposal had millions of hits on youtube. The proposal set the bar high, people were already commenting on what the wedding would be like.

"You're still looking at the video," Oliver asked walking into her office.

"Of course, it's my new favourite thing," she said.

"You mean something has actually replaced this picture?" Oliver asked picking up a framed picture of him off of her desk. It was from Thea's birthday party. Tommy had taken a picture of Oliver's reaction as Felicity walked through the door. He was looking as her as if she were a Goddess to be worshipped. Felicity loved the picture.

"That picture will always be one of my favourites. I have the best fiancé in the world," she boasted.

"I'm glad you're happy but can we elope? Thea and our mothers are getting a bit out of control with their wedding ideas. Even Isabel is looking to get some mileage out of it for the company."

Felicity laughed, "They would kill us but for the record I don't care where we get married as long as I get married to you."

Oliver knew Isabel strictly enforced the no PDA at work rule but he didn't care at that moment. He walked around the desk and pulled Felicity into his arms kissing her soundly.

"I love you Felicity," he said when they broke apart.

"I love you too Oliver."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for Reading.

**Author's Note:**

> There will be six chapters in this story. Each of the following chapters will be dedicated to Felicity discovering who each of these men really are. I am hoping to update once a week. The Stalker is up next.


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